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Desperate and insane Stampede of vVild Cattle down a Sheer Precipice, 
200 feet into the Canyon below. — The Mountain Jungles of Hawaii are 
noted. Many localities abound in Wild Bullocks, Boar and Goats. 


A Romance : Thrilling, Instructive, Entertaining. 


Rollo in Hawaii 

BY 

Max Nodaway 

A Tale of Thrilling Adventures, amid Volcanoes, Fire 
Fountains and Tropical Wonderlands; into which 
is woven a vivid description of those Mystic 
Isles, where Fire and Water have built 
up a Delirium of Chaos and Beauty. 


Profusely Illustrated 


Chicago 

Thompson & Thomas 

1908 


LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Two Copies Received 

NOV 28 1908 

^ Copyri^nt tntry_ 

OcX.«\,\90? 

CLASS -CL AXc. No. 
COPY 3; 


ROLLO IN HAWAII 

Copyright 

1908 

By L. ALCOTT IMUS 


PRONUNCIATION OF POLYNESIAN LANGUAGES. 

A very simple rule: Give the vowels the broad Italian 
sound as in the word America: viz.: Ah-may-ree-kah. By 
this you can pronounce correctly nearly • every Hawaiian 
word. The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters; — a-e-i-o-u-h- 
k-l-m-n-p-w. O and U have their simple sounds, as in Lulu 
and Nora. There are two diphthongs, the words Mai and 
Kau being pronounced as the English My and Cow. The con- 
sonants have their usual simple sounds. W at the beginning 
of a word or before two vowels has the sound of w in our 
word way. In a final syllable before a single vowel it has the 
V-sound. Nearly all words are accented on the penult. 
All syllables end in a vowel. 


I 






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:rj 




ROLLO IN HAWAII 


CHAPTER 1. 

The Wreck of the Chinese Smuggler. — Boomguy Translates 
from the Strange Diary. — Who was the Mysterious Princess 
Minelulu? — Barney Tells a Weird Tale. — The Clipper Fay Yan 
is “Blown into Toothpicks,” 

OR six days the good ship Wanga Wan-^ 
ga ploughed its way southwesterly 
through the sparkling waves of the 
Pacific Ocean, toward the region of 
coral reefs and cocoanut groves. Each 
day the trade winds blew fresher and 
warmer from the northeast, and each 
night the Pole Star sank lower and 
lower. Then the Southern Cross 
peeped up with its diamond studded 
crucifix from the Southern horizon, 
and the air became soft and balmy. 

‘‘This is very jolly,” exclaimed Rollo, 
“let us sing — 

“ ‘A life on the ocean wave ; 

A home on the rolling deep,’ ” 

“And I’ll warble in the rest of it,” returned Russell : 

“ ‘Where the pollywogs wiggle their tails, 

And the water’s only three feet deep.’ ” 

''Sail-ho! a wreck!” yelled the watch in the crow’s nest 
of the foremast. 

“Where away?” shouted Captain Semmes. 

“On the lee-bow, — ^black hull ; — two masts gone by the 
board ; — no one at the helm ; — looks like a Chinaman.” 




2 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

'‘A floater b’ gosh !” exclaimed the first mate, examin- 
ing the strange craft through his spyglass. “Ah ! there’s 
the name on her after gables ; — ‘Clipper Fay Yan, Hong 
Kong' I’ve seen her in Honolulu harbor, more’n once. 
Always something suspicious about that craft, and^now, 
like a crowing hen, she’s come to a bad end.” 

“Hard a port your helm !” shouted Captain Semmes ; 
“run her two cable-lengths to windward of the old fos- 
sil. Mr. Bates, take a couple of kegs of powder and a 
fuse aboard the Chinee, and blow her into toothpicks and 
shoepegs. She’ll send some good ship to the bottom if 
left here; — right square on the route between ’Frisco and 
Honolulu.” 

“Aye, aye, sir,” returned the mate ; “we’ll waltz her 
into Davy Jones locker in just two jerks of a porpus 
tail.”' 

“He makes no more ado about destroying a thousand 
ton clipper, than he would in splitting a basket of kindling 
wood,” remarked Mr. Hadley. 

As they approached the derelict, a sudden idea flashed 
into Rollo’s head. “Russell,” he exclaimed, “if we could 
get some relic of this smuggler of Cathay, what a splen- 
did addition to our museum ; a Chinese logbook, or a 
volume of Confucius, for instance.” 

“Capital scheme, Rollo ; ask Mr. Bates ; he’s been very 
friendly to us since we left ’Frisco.” 

“Can’t do it, gents,” returned the mate briskly, as 
Rollo made his request. “Got no time to play P. T. Bar- 
num; not this trip. But you’re welcome to jump in, if 
your Guv’ner’s willing, and scour the ship for your own 
bric-a-brac.” 

Rollo and Russell glanced at their uncle, and he nodded 
assent. In a twinkling they tumbled into the boat, to- 
gether with several seamen. Mr. Bates handed them an 
extra pair of oars, and the little craft went down on a 
run from the davits. In ten minutes they were climbing 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 3 

into the cabin of the unlucky Fay Yan, by a hawser hang- 
ing from her stern. 

“There’s been devilish work here,” exclaimed the mate 
after a brief examination of the wreck. “Lockers stove 
in, and the captain’s desk broken into bits with an ax ; 
the ship’s safe blown open with gunpowder ; evervthing 
valuable removed. Even the logbook and ship’s papers 
are destroyed. I found the remains of them burned to a 
crisp in the stove of the caboose.” 

“Mr. Bates,” said one of the seamen, “the hold is half 
full of water and more coming in steadily. She’ll go to 
the bottom o£ herself inside of a fortnight. The Chinese 
crew have hacked the big beams almost in two, all over 
the craft. Looks as if they wor hunting for hidden swag 
of some kind. The old tub will go to pieces of her own 
free will in the first Kona storm.” 

“Don’t you believe it, Jim,” spoke up another seaman ; 
“she’s half junk and half clipper. Not enough iron in 
her to sink her below the gunnels. The spikes wouldn’t 
load a bobtailed howitzer. Them hacks in her beams 
point straight to opium, sir. I know something about it : 
sailed two seasons in a smuggler myself. The young 
one’s got some’at to show you, Mr. Bates.” 

“Only a little blank book,” returned Russell, handing it 
to the mate. “I felt something hard in the mattress, and 
cut this out. It must have been a lady’s state-room ; rib- 
bons and hairpins laying around, and a bright colored 
Mother Hubbard hanging in the locker.” 

“What the mischief is this language?” mused Mr. 
Bates, scanning the written pages. “Javanese — Tagalog, — 
Maori — ? No; I know the earmarks of all those lingos.” 

“I’ll wager it’s Hawaiian,” said Rollo. “I counted the 
letters, — only twelve ; outside of the English words.” 

“Here, Boomguy,” continued Mr. Bates, “you’re a 
heathen Sandwich. Bear a hand to unravel this yarn.” 


4 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


“Sure, boss/' returned the Kanaka seaman. “I read 
you; listen!” 

“Moku Fay Yan, July 15th, 19 — 

“Ua haalele makou i ka pae aina o Kina i ka ponei. 
Hauoli launa-ole kuu naau, i ka hoi ana i o Hawaii, kuu 
aina hanau. Makena no hoi kuu aloha ia oe, e ka malu 
ulu o Lele. Ua piha kuu pepeiao me na kini kini lealea 
o ka Molokai Bell, a me na mele pupu-kamiohe o Wai- 
manu. Eia no wau ke hoi mai la, e kuu makua aloha. 
Ke hoi pu me au kahi Barney kuu hoa aloha nui. Pa mai I 
Pa mai ! ka Makani o Hilo.” 

“Now, what does all that zig-zag Choctaw mean?” de- 
manded the mate. 

“Like this, boss,” returned Boomguy, translating into 
broken English. 

“Ship Fay Yan, July 15th. 

“We have leave the land of China last night. My heart 
is full joy, because I go home to Hawaii, my birth coun- 
try. Oh I how my soul is full of love for you. Oh I 
shades under the breadfruit trees of Lahaina. My ears 
are ring with the sweet peals of the College bell of Molo- 
kai. I listen full of happiness for the flute notes of the 
land shells in Waimanu (Valley of sweet songbirds.) I 
am coming, oh ! Motherland ; and with me Barney, the 
dear friend of my heart. Then blow, blow, blow, ye 
gentle winds of Hilo.” 

A murmur of admiration escaped the lips of the rough 
sailors. 

“Bravo!” exclaimed Bates. “She was a poet, too, and 
no mistake. Let’s see; left China, July 15th, bound for 
Honolulu. Not the captain’s wife ; for she had a lover 
on board, an Irishman. Educated too, for she can write 
English. Here’s what she wrote last, hand all a tremble.” 

“Oh! God help us! the captain and white crew have 



“AVhen the niJ?ht was hot they lay on deck Hke so many hogs. With rr.y disguise T passed 
through them, like a fox among a flock of sheep.” 










Barney was discovered insensible, only five minutes before the 
Smuggler Ship was blown into fragments. “There he is,” exclaimed 
Russell. “He’s alive; pull him out gently.” 




5 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

disappeared. The Chinese sailors are acting like mad- 
men, chopping the inside of the Fay Yan into pieces. 
What does it mean? They have tied Barney hand and 
foot in the captain’s stateroom, and keep me prisoner. 
Later — It is two o’clock in the morning. They tell me 
the hulk is leaking and will soon sink; that Barney is 
dead ! — jumped overboard. 1 don’t believe it; he’s too 
smart for them all. Hush ! they are coming after me. 
Oh ! you who find and read this^ save for me my Barney, 
and bring him back to his 

Minelulu of Paliuli.’’ 

“Now for the kegs of powder and fuse,” ordered the 
mate. 

“Russell,” whispered Rollo, “while they’re getting 
ready to blow her up, let’s make one more round. Put 
your ear to every panel and knock hard !” 

“Pm with you,” returned Russell. “If that young fel- 
low is left here on board, he’ll be blown into eternity in 
twenty minutes.” 

They had made the range of the whole ship again, — 
cabins, forecastle, between decks, and even re-explored 
the waterlogged hold. 

“Do you suppose those water breakers are all full?” 
said Russell pointing to a row of hogsheads, lashed along 
the deck to the gunwales. 

“Everyone. Boomguy kicked them all,” he said. 

Rollo gave a push to the one nearest the middle of 
the row. 

“It’s empty and moves !” he crie_d ; “bring a capstan bar, 
and we’ll stave in the head.” 

“There he is,” exclaimed Russell, as the end of the 
big barrel fell in. “He’s alive ! pull him out gently.” 

The inmate of the empty breaker was nearly insensible, 
but revived in the air, and sat up dreamily to drink from 


6 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

a cocoanut shell, which Rollo filled with water and 
brought to his lips. 

‘‘We are your friends,” said Russell; “where are the 
captain and the white men?” 

“Gone! all but me,” returned the young man, closing 
his eyes again. “I wouldn’t leave Minelulu. Where’s 
them haythen Chinees?” 

“Evidently they’ve disappeared too,” returned Rollo, 
“and taken the girl with them. What’s your name?” 

“Barney Morrisey,” he replied, very faintly. 

“Hurry up, boys,” cried Mr. Bates from below ; “in 
five minutes we’ll touch off the fuse.” 

“Hold on there !” yelled Rollo. “We’ve found the 
Irishman. Bear a hand, Boomguy; we’ll put him in the 
boat.”' 

Barney essayed to rise, but failing in the effort, fell 
insensible in a heap on the deck. The boys carried him 
to the stern, where Boomguy, grasping the limp form 
/ with his right arm, was lowered^Ty them into the boat. 

Ten minutes later, just as the boat was raised over the 
gunwales of the Wanga Wanga, the whole deck, the 
cabins and interior works of the fated Fay Yan shot up 
into the air with a terrific explosion. Then with a grating 
sound as the timbers rumbled together, the hulk broke 
in two, and went down with a groan that sounded almost 
human. 

“Smuggling ships, like whistling girls, will come to 
some bad end,” remarked Captain Semmes. 



The Crew was drunk with SakS, “So when the drunken 
bastes took after me wid their knives and hatchets one night, 
I jumps overboard and makes as if I wor a drowning, by 
splashing an’ yelpin’ in the water.” 






8 


Adventures of liollo in Hawaii 


CHAPTER IL 

A Sudden Eruption of the Volcano. — The River of Red-Hot 
Lava Three Miles Wide. — Mauna Loa 144 times as Large as 
Vesuvius. — They Decide to Visit it; Rollo and Russell Get 
Busy. 

HE reader may wonder what brought 
Rollo and Russell so far into tlie 
Pacific ; we will go back a few days, 
and recount the events leading up 
to the blowing up of the mysteri- 
ous smuggler ship. 

“Rollo,’' said his uncle, “while I 
am getting these letters ready to 
mail to your father and mother in 
the East, find the Daily Chronicle 
and read what it says today about 
the new eruption of Mauna I.oa; 
you called my attention to the 
early report last week.” 

“Yes, sir,” said Rollo, “and I’ve been posting up a 
little at the library about Hawaii ; — a wonderful country. 

I bought two books about the group at Cunningham’s 
yesterday: — ‘Six months in the Sandwich Islands,’ by, Isa-- 
bella Bird, and ‘Life in Hawaii,’ by the missionary, T. 
Munson Coan. Oh ! here’s quite an article in the paper 
this morning. Listen !” 

“‘Honolulu, Oct. 3rd (by wireless from Hilo). The 
outbreak of the volcano is assuming proportions that in- 
dictate an eruption of unusual activity. After weeks of 
severe shaking Mauna Loa has broken out in two places, 
and two lava flows are in progress on opposite sides of 
the mountain. The most dangerous of these issued from 




9 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

a huge crack that opened in the flank of Mauna Loa in the 
densest part of the forest back of Kau, and plunged 
down over the plains in a few hours, reaching the sea the 
next day. It swept over Captain Brownson’s beautiful 
ranch, destroying more than a thousand head of horses, 
cattle and goats. At one point this river is three miles 
wide. So sudden was the fiery inundation that Captain 
Brownson and family barely escaped by hard running 
across the valley Waipaa, a few minutes after the vast 
titanic fissure opened.’ ” 

“Wait a bit, Rollo ; call in your cousin Russell from his 
room. I want him to be interested too; for he may visit 
Hawaii some day.” 

“Not until old Vulcan pulls down his blinds and closes 
up business in the Sandwiches,” said Russell, suddenly 
entering the room. “I was listening as Rollo read. Just 
imagine us three, — coat tails standing out straight behind, 
legging it like jackrabbits for the seaside, and a red-hot 
Mississippi roaring along close behind us. Excuse me/' 

“And yet,” said Rollo, “in this book of Mr. Coan’s, 
with many chapters on his volcano adventures, there is 
hardly any mention of loss of life. The island is so big, 

■ — four thousand square miles — that there is plenty of room 
for both the population and the eruptions. Now listen, 
here’s more of the same kind.” 

“ ‘On Wednesday night, a large incandescent spot, as 
dazzling as the sun, suddenly appeared at the summit of 
Mauna Loa, fifty miles away. This illuminated the 
great valley and table lands between Mauna Loa and 
Mauna Kea with almost the brilliancy of sunshine. A 
telephone message from the upper station of Sam Park- 
er’s ranch, nine thousand feet elevation on Mauna Kea, 
reported that a lava stream could be seen from there, 
issuing from an old eraser of Mauna Loa about five 
miles to the east of the big summit crater, Mokuaweoweo ; 
(“ain’t that a jawcracker,” said Rollo). It had already 


10 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

reached the timberlands, shaping its course almost direct* 
ly for the town of Hilo. Some of the younger inhabi- 
tants are badly scared; but the old residents view the 
situation with calm interest; knowing that only about 
once in twenty-five or forty years can Mauna Loa gather 
fury enough to send its products from Mokuaweoweo to 
the seaside (fifty miles) ; and even then, over ten or 
twelve months must elapse before the fire dragon’s ap- 
proach becomes dangerous.’ 

“Uncle,” said Rollo, “I see just how it is. The earth- 
quake period comes before the lava begins to run ; after 
that the great vapor clouds are blown away, and the 
mountain ceases quaking.” 

“Fd rather be shaken to pieces than cremated in red- 
hot metal,” put in Russell. 

“And Fd almost give my ears to see this great moun- 
tain in its throes of agony,” continued Rollo. “Such 
chances only come once in a lifetime.” 

“And just think,” continued Russell, “when Krakatoa 
in Java was in action, it’s explosions caused such vio- 
lent concussions and air-waves, that they traveled around 
the world twice before dissipating. If you’d been near 
the Straits of Sunda, you wouldn’t have had any ears 
left to trade ofif for a sight of this little diversion. But 
it’s very interesting. After all is over, I wouldn’t mind 
going down with you to see it, and hold a post-mortem 
over the consequences.” 

“Oh, fie !” exclaimed Rollo. “As much as to say that 
you’d enjoy a tragedy on the stage, looking over the 
broken glass, after the actors had packed up and gone 
home.” 

“Boys,” said Mr. Hadley, their uncle, “you know that 
we intended to visit Panama next. But if you both agree 
that this opportunity should be grasped, to see what I 
suppose and believe to be the greatest wonder in the 
world, I am willing to consider it seriously. The Austra- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


11 


Han steamer leaves tomorrow night. Honolulu is direct- 
ly on her way, and she touches there.” 

“There are some volcanoes in Central America, too,” 
suggested Rollo mischievously ; “it might be dangerous 
for Russell to go to Panama, for fear that they too might 
start in the explosion business.” 

“Pm no more afraid of a volcano than you are, Rollo,” 
exclaimed Russell, testily, coloring up to his ears. “If 
you want to walk right into the entrance to the bottom- 
less pit, you’ll see me ahead of you, not behind you.” 

I record this remark of Russell’s, because a few weeks 
later, when the party really arrived at the edge of what 
appeared a bottomless pit, Russell was in the lead, and 
the most adventurous of all. 

Later in the afternoon, Mr. Hadley entered their com- 
fortable suite in the St. Francis Hotel. 

“Boys, I have just been chatting with Mr. Bishop, an 
old friend of mine, and a former sugar-planter in Hawaii. 
He tells me that there is very little danger in making an 
expedition to the volcano, providing we have good guides 
and muleteers. In fact hundreds of other tourists and 
scientists will visit the mountain, but it is so big and vast 
that we may not meet any of them.” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “Mauna Loa is 144 times as large as 
Vesuvius and covers more than 2,300 square miles. It 
has erupted enough matter in its lifetime to cover the 
state of Ohio two feet deep. Russell and I have spent 
the day in studying the geography and interesting points 
about Hawaii.” 

“And what have you discovered, Russell?” 

“They have a combined area of over seven thousand 
square miles, and are entirely of volcanic origin, which 
makes the soil very rich and well adapted to sugar-cane, 
rice, oranges, coffee and other tropical productions. 
There are seven principal islands lying just within the 
tropics; 2,100 miles southwest from San Francisco, and 


12 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

about the same distance due west from Mazatlan, Mexico. 
Only the island of Hawaii has an active volcano. The 
mountains of the other islands have been gashed and 
worn by the winds and rains of a hundred thousand years, 
into deep canyons and lofty peaks. Some of the valleys 
are two to four thousand feet deep, frequently with sheer 
precipitous sides, clothed with wild tropical vegetation. 
Compared with the luxuriouness of Hawaii’s forest 
bowers, the trees and shrubs which cover over the wild 
lands and mountains of the United States are but a garb 
of poverty. They export 420,000 tons of sugar annually. 
The favorite diversion of the Islanders is raising Cain 
generally. Beg pardon, I mean c-a-n-e, cane.” 

“That’s very good for a short description. Now, boys, 
if it’s decided that we visit Hawaii first, I wish you would 
go down at once and engage passage for us. Then buy 
the necessary supplies and pack your trunks with all dis- 
patch.” 

“What supplies, for instance?” asked Rollo. 

“Why, fans and mosquito-nets ; and hammocks to hang 
in the tree-tops, so the cannibals and cobras and boa con- 
strictors cannot make a breakfast of us,” put in Russell. 

“Nonsense,” returned Rollo, “there never were any 
reptiles or cannibals in Hawaii ; Miss Bird’s book says 
so.” 

“And this is no kid-glove party,” continued their uncle. 
“Mr. Bishop tells me we’ll have to rough it like cowboys 
in the mountains.” 

“Take your rifles and shotguns, with plenty of ammu- 
nition; for he says game is plenty in the interior.” 

“Then we’ll want ponchos, raincoats and rubber boots,” 
continued Rollo. 

“Yes, and saddle-bags, leather leggings and Mexican 
spurs,” continued his uncle; “heavy waterproof woolen 
shirts, leather cartridge belts, hunting knives and revol- 



THE CHINESE MUTINEERS SEARCHING FOR OPIUM. 
“The Pay Yan was freig-hted with 20,000 mats of Rice,” 
said Barney; “and the spalpeens fed them to the Albatrosses, 
strewin’ it around the deck.” 





14 Adventures of Eollo hi Hawaii 

vers ; don’t forget your waterproof match-boxes and gen- 
erous water canteens.” 

“Shall we leave our overcoats and heavy underwear?” 
asked Russell. 

“By no means. Take every rag of them. Mr. Bishop 
says the cold winds on the upper slopes of the mountains 
cut through one like sharp icicles.” 

“Wouldn’t a fireproof rowboat with asbestos bathing 
suits come in handy?” suggested Russell. “We’re liable 
to get in beyond our depth in that white-hot river of metal 
the Daily Chronicle tells us 'about.” 

The next day by noon the supplies were all assembled, 
and had been packed in dry goods boxes, which Russell 
and Rollo addressed to Prof. Geo. Hadley, Hawaiian 
Hotel, Honolulu. Besides the articles already mentioned 
there were three Spanish saddles, with big pommels 
(adapted for lassoing wild bullocks), cans of condensed 
milk, coffee, meats, cocoa, etc., with a small outfit of camp- 
ing utensils, ropes, hatchets and a broad-ax. 


“How is your protege, the wild Irishman, getting 
along?” asked Mr. Hadley, the next day. 

“Slowly, but quite satisfactorily,” returned Rollo. 
“That is the doctor’s report. He keeps him in his own 
state-room and admits no visitors. Barney was com- 
pletely exhausted, and almost asphyxiated for want of 
air in the barrel ; but Doctor McGrew thinks he’ll be all 
right by the time we reach Honolulu. We went in just 
for a minute this morning, and he grasped our hands, 
and covered them with kisses and tears. He was going 
to express his gratitude for saving him from the explo- 
sion, but the doctor forbade talking. We’re just on pins 
to hear his story, for it’s both romantic and tragical.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


15 


CHAPTER III. 

Barney’s Tale. — The Opium in the False Keel. — Mutineers 
Burn Matches under his Nose. — Jumps overboard and Pre- 
tends to Drown. — They Feed 20,000 Bags of Rice to the Alba- 
trosses. — The Secret Locker near the Rudder. 

HE next day Barney was so much 
recovered that the doctor allowed 
him on deck for an hour. The pas- 
sengers were nearly as much inter- 
ested in the mystery as Rollo and 
Russell. The “girl in the case” 
added zest to their curiosity. 

“Now tell us how you came to be 
on the Fay Yan, and who was 
Minelulu?” said Rollo as they sat a 
little later in the steamer’s reading 
room. 

“Ah ! shure I will,” returned Bar- 
ney; “an’ may the divil fly away 
with the dihraty haythens that carried away the blissed 
darlin’, and shtole the dope I wor a goin’ to give back 
to the man as owned that illigant little ship. ’Twould 
have made yer hair stand on end wid joy, to see that 
gossoon of a boat a’whiskin’ over the waves like a white 
albatross.” 

“By the dope, you mean the opium?” 

“The very same; and wasn’t there a matter of four 
ton of it? an ivery blissid pound worth a twinty dollar 
gold plunk in the Frisco market!” 

“But it was contraband, Barney. The captain did not 
intend to put it through the custom house, did he?” 

“An’ faith ; that’s mor’n I can tell ye. He was as kind 
to me as one of the blissid saints. The last thing he sez. 




16 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


when he found I were a’goin’ to stay by the ship an the 
girl, ‘Barney,’ he sez, ‘you’re a broth of a boy. Kape yer 
eye on the drug,, and when ye twig the shpot forninst 
they’re a buryin’ it, come to me in Hilo, and if we save it, 
ril buy you a swate little coffee plantation wid a couple of 
waterfalls a jumpin’ into it; yes, and a volcano on it, too 
(to brace up the landscape) ; and ye can marry the 
Kanaka lass and live like two canayry birds in a banana 
garden.’ ” 

“That sounds very nice, Barney,” put in Russell ; “but 
why didn’t the Chinese sailors take you with them ?” 

“Because I niver confessed the hiding place of the 
dope. They burned matches under me nose, and poured 
a big poteen of whiskey down me throat, but divil a bit 
wud I discover the cachay. The ship was freighted wid 
twinty thousand mats of rice for ’Frisco, and the spal- 
peens histed them wan by wan out of the hould, an’ fed 
them to the albatrosses, a strewin’ it round the deck.” 

“Did they find any opium in the rice mats?” 

“Yis ; a matter of five hundred pounds ; each in a sar- 
dine can in the middle of the bag; and this gin them the 
divil’s own appetite to find the rest of the valybles.” 

“So they finally dug into it, did they ?” 

“Yis ; the yellow sons av the owld dragon bored for 
weeks into the bowels an vitals of the Fay Yan, and dis- 
kivered the swag in copper cylinders in the false keel.” 

“False keeir exclaimed both the boys. “Then she was 
built on purpose for the smuggling trade,” continued 
Rollo. 

“The very same, perhaps. But that wor Jardine’s busi- 
ness, not mine. Only the captain knew it. He towld me 
the night he lowered his bags of gould from the cabin 
windows, an’ rowed away with the white officers. ‘Bar- 
ney,’ he sez, ‘miny and miny a time did the fly coppers 
(detectives) search the boat from jib to rudder in Hono- 
lulu harbor ; but niver did the ferrets twig the big fortune 


BARNEY PLAYING SPY ON THE MUTINEERS. ‘T 
in the chains under the bowsprit. Then I swims to the 
sneaks into a porthole by a hangin’ rope.' 


hangs all night 
after-cabin and 


18 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


in opium a-layin’ in that rathole, between the upper and 
lower keel. Barney,’ he sez, whin I refused to desert the 
gal, — ‘Stick to the ship: there’s a fortune in her keel 
timbers, and if the yellow devils take to the boats, ye’ll 
find a plenty to eat and drink in the secret locker, forninst 
the. rudder. We’re a-goin on a beeline to Honolulu, and 
back in a jilfy, with firearms and help to overcome these 
murtherin’ Manchus.’ So when the drunken yellow hay- 
thens tuk after me wid their knives and hatchets one night, 
I jumps overboard and makes as if I wor a-drowning, by 
splashing an yelpin’ in the water. Then I dives and comes 
up the other side of the Fay Yan. The first day I hangs 
in the chains under the bowsprit, and at night I swims to 
the after cabin, and sneaks into a port hole by a hanging 
rope. Thin I crowld into the howld, and breakin’ open the 
captain’s secret locker, found a plenty uv canned oysters, 
an’ wines with shipbread and potted meats. I slept in the 
locker, but toward morning I creeps on deck, — (the 
Chinee devils wor drunk with sake and opium) an’ I 
staves in the head of a water hogshead, and lowers it into 
the sea. Whin I had lashed the big barrel to the rudder 
gear, I climbs in and squats in the bottom all day, lookin’ 
through the bunghole. Every day the Chinees took a 
boat and rowed around the Fay Yan an hour or two ; most 
like to get in trim for a long pull to Hawaii. 

“In the evening I could shtand it no longer and I 
shwam to the forechains, climbed to the bowsprit, and 
lay down in the bow to aise me cramped up legs. I cud 
hear the big Manchus a fightin’ with the little Cantons 
and Shanghais from South China, down in the after 
cabin. They were playing Fantan, and fuddling thim- 
selves with arrack and sake. I could smell no end of 
opium fumes, and enough smoke from their villainous 
Loo-choo tobacco to knock down a rogue elephant.” 

“Didn’t they keep a guard or watch on deck during 
the night ?” asked Rollo. 


19 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

“Niver a wan; except when the night was very hot, 
and then they slept on deck a layin’ aroun’ like so many 
drunken hogs. I found one of their Mandarin sack coats 
for meself, and cut off the cue from a Chin-chu that was 
lyin’ drunk. With these on, I mor’n once passed right 
through the crowd of sleepers, like a fox among a flock 
of sheep.” 

‘‘That was very brave in you, Barney,” said Russell. 
“So they never discovered you or suspected your pres- 
ence ?” 

“Yes, they did. Just after the yellow nagurs fell onto 
the opium, I hoisted meself after dark over the taffroil 
into the rigging, and climbed into the crow’s nest. From 
that pint I cud see all the cussedness goin’ on above decks, 
and some av the villainous business below, a hewin’ into 
the keel. 

“Suddintly two Manchus spied me and come up the 
rigging with their knives. I wasn’t afraid of thim, but 
for fear they’d recognize me face, I covered it up wid a 
handkerchief. Then I made a yelp like the viry owld 
Scratch himself and saulted over ther viry heads, plunk 
into the say. Whin I come up, I sneaked into me old 
friend, the barrel by the rudder. 

“However, they niver a onc’t dropped their peepers 
into me hogshead. But the waves wor a throwin’ the 
tub up and down, and knocking it sideways all day, and 
smashing its ribs agin the swingin’ rudder, and ivery bump 
stove a bruise in me skin. Finally one night the barrel 
went all to pieces, an’ I climbed on deck agin, more dead 
than alive. I found the locker broken into and the eat- 
ables gone. Nothing left but a small bottle of wine. I 
drank that, but it must have been drugged. I wor almost 
insinsible whin I broke into another hogshead, an’ crawlin’ 
in I fixed the lid in wid me inside. That’s the last I re- 
mimber.” 

“And the bunghole didn’t admit enough air for your 


20 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

respiration/’ broke in Russell, “and we found you un- 
conscious.” 

“Now, Barney,” continued Rollo, “tell us about the fair 
Hawaiian lady, — this Minelulu of Paliuli ; who is she, 
and how in the world did she come to wander to China, 
and then drift into this Chinese smuggler?” 

“And how did you make her acquaintance?” added 
Russell. “She seems to be profoundly attached to you.” 

Barney’s answer to this was an astonished stare. 

“Russell forgot to tell you,” said Rollo, “that we found 
her diary in the stateroom, and Boomguy translated a 
part of it to us.” 

Barney slowly put his hand into an inner pocket, and 
pulled out a locket of ivory, strangely carved with Chi- 
nese dragons and Oriental characters. It was evidently 
water-tight. He touched a spring and it flashed open, 
displaying a young lady’s photograph. Her queenly head 
was crowned with a wreath of flowers, while a similar 
garland encircled her throat and covered her shoulders. 

“Why, she’s nearly white !” exclaimed Russell. “And 
has a very intellectual face,” added Rollo. 

Barney raised his arm and holding it aloft, said, “Mas- 
ters Rollo and Russell, I owe to yez me life ; and no true 
Irishman wud go back on sich benefactors. But, by all 
the blessed saints, there’s one thing I can’t tell yez, so help 
me howly St. Patrick ; because I’ve given me word of 
honor to the leddy ; — and that’s the story of how she came 
to China. And yez may cut off me right arm, but I’ll not 
tell the secret of me bringin’ her home in the smuggler. 
Only wan thing I will tell, an’ that’s with your promise 
-to kape it yourselves entirely, an’ ask me no questions. 
So help you, St. Bridget, me patron saint!” 

“We promise you faithfully,” said both the boys, fer- 
vently, although they were fairly eaten up with curiosity 
to learn the whole story. 

“Well,” said Barpev, speaking very slowly, and with- 



,, When I could stand it no longer, I climbed up the bow-sprit into 
the bow, to alse me cramped up legs. I smelled no end of opium fumes, 
and the reek from their villainous Loo-choo tobacco would knock down 
a rogue Elephant.” 





22 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


out his usual Irish brogue; ‘‘this Lady Minelulu is the 
Princess of the Emerald Valley. She’s descended from 
the Kings of Kailua. She’s an heiress to the throne of 
Hawaii ! and we will see her again. She will be the 
ruler of her people T 

“Boys,” said their uncle, coming up to them suddenly, 
“Mauna Loa is in full sight, and we will soon see the 
blaze of light from the big volcano.” 

Only a few seconds elapsed before the three boys had 
tumbled on deck and joined the excited passengers, gaz- 
ing over the tafrail. All were eager for the first sight of 
the world’s mightiest wonder. There, toward the south, 
was the island of Hawaii, lying along the horizon like a 
monster whale. Its nearest peak, Mauna Kea, an extinct 
volcano, shot up into the air nearly 15,000 feet. Though 
directly within the Equatorial zone, between the tropics, 
nearly one-third of its grand dome was on this day 
crowned with a ghostly mantle of snow. The crimson 
rays of the setting sun were reflected from the summit of 
this Great White Mountain; — (so named by the Hawaii- 
ans), like the scintillations of rubies and sapphires. Be- 
yond Mauna Kea arose the graceful and vast dome of 
Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, far big- 
ger than its mate, the White Mountain, but like it, wear- 
ing a dazzling white night cap. Encircling each of these 
Titans, and clinging to their flanks, were continuous regi- 
ments of fleecy clouds that walled them around like the 
rings of Saturn. High in the heavens, above Mauna Loa, 
rose a pine tree shaped cone of smoke, which told of the 
wild work of fire and destruction going on below it. 

“What is that big cup-shaped mountain on the next 
island to the west?” asked Mr. Hadley of Captain Semmes. 

“That is Haleakala, on the island of Maui. It is 10,000 
feet high, and contains in its bowels the world’s greatest 
volcanic chasm, the crater called the ‘House of the Sun.’ 
Only one other in the universe is as celebrated in its im- 


23 


A Tlirilllng Tale of the Tropics 

mensity and that’s ‘Tyco Bragh/ a volcano in the moon. 
It is ten miles long, more than two thousand feet deep, 
and would comfortably hold the whole city of Chicago in 
its basin.’' 

“Yes; I’ve heard of it,” exclaimed Russell, “and that’s 
another of the great wonders of the world. I’m looking 
forward to its exploration with great pleasure, because 
it’s extinct, and far less dangerous than — ” 

“Ah !-h-h-ah !” cried the delighted passengers ; ‘'there’s 
the Hre river!” 

And, almost like a thunderbolt, a break in the dome 
of Mauna Kea revealed a part of Mauna Loa, and 
startled them all by the display of a dazzling ribbon of 
fire, running a zig-zag course over the brow of the moun- 
tain, from among the fields of ice and snow. 

“It’s even brighter than the orb of the setting sun !” 
exclaimed one of the passengers. 

“Yes, sure enough,” answered the captain; “the bril- 
liancy of Pele’s fire-works, though 75 or 100 miles dis- 
tant, throws the Wanga Wanga’s shadow on the waves 
and tips the mountain tops of Maui with gold, like the 
gleam of the rising sun.” 

“Ka kaiewa na pali 0 Nuoloolo; 

I ho mai ke ahi, a amianu na pali! 

Haa-lulu na oawa i ka Pele. 

Kai-koo ka Moana i Kui hiwi.” 

The boys glanced around, and found Boomguy stand- 
ing by Barney’s side. They were chanting a tragic poem 
together. 

“And can you talk Kanaka too?” exclaimed Russell. 

“An shure I can that same. Didn’t I live foive years 
among the sugar plantations? If I wasn’t a bogtrotter, 
I’d be a full blooded cannibawl.” 

“Now, what’s the translation of that little epic chant 
you were intoning?” asked Mr. Hadley. 


24 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

Barney and Boomguy looked puzzled. “Here it is,’^ 
said one of the passengers, Prof. Hitchcock of Lahaina- 
luna. 

“The lava cliffs of Nuoloolo do wave. 

The frost cometh down from the mountains. 

See the valleys all a-tremble at the coming of Pele. 
The ocean is swept by the tidal-waves. 

They rise and devour the hill tops.” 

“That sounds very much like the Kalevala of the 
Norsemen,” said Mr. Hadley. 

“Yes, or one of the poems of Ossian,” added Rollo. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


25 


CHAPTER IV. 

Honolulu, the Tropical Paradise. — Uncle Sam Fortifies an 
Old Volcano. — The Boys Have an Exciting Surf-ride. — They 
Plead Guilty to “Poodle-dog” Diet. — A Wonderful Menu at 
the Chinese Restaurant. — They Read Barney’s Love-letter 
from the Princess. 

HE next morning found the Wanga 
Wanga lying at her wharf in Hono- 
lulu harbor. 

“Hurry up, Rollo,” exclaimed Rus- 
sell, “the sun is rising over Nuuanu 
valley, and you are not up to see the 
glorious landscape. This is our first 
morning in the golden tropics.” 

The boys were soon on deck, 
where Barney joined them and acted 
as dragoman. 

“Mountains all around, in every 
direction, except toward the sea,” re- 
marked Rollo ; “and oh ! Russell, 
what a beautiful city! It’s just a bower of tropical mag- 
nificence, and runs far up into the beautiful valleys that 
slash into the precipitous mountain.” 

“That’s Punchbowl,” said Barney, pointing to the lofty 
hill of red rock overhanging the town. 

“Good name,” said Russell; “looks just like a big bowl 
turned upside down. Ah I a battery on its top I Look 
through the spyglass, Rollo ! See the fort 1 Those huge 
guns could make a wreck out of the biggest battleship 
afloat before she could get into the harbor.” 

“And that’s Diamond Head,” continued Barney, point- 
ing to the precipitous volcano, jutting into the ocean a 




26 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

short distance to the southwest. “Whin the light shines 
on them donnicks forninst the sunset, they sparkle like 
saffires an’ dimants; but divil a pricious stone or gowld 
or silver or dacent metal did they iver find in the whole 
bunch uv these Pacific cannibal Islands. Not even peat 
in their bogs.” 

“And Uncle Sam is building a big fort like Gibraltar 
on Diamond Head to protect the harbor entrance?” 

“Yis,” continued Barney, “and if iver the sogers in 
thim two forts go on a sthrike, an’ begin shootin’ into 
the town, they won’t lave enough of it to bury in a sar- 
dine box.” 

“Boys,” said their uncle, “I shall be busy until noon 
getting information for our expedition to the volcano, 
and calling on my friend. Prof. Alexis, of the Royal 
Hawaiian University. Now, if you wish, you can take 
Barney with you after breakfast, and do your sight-see- 
ing through the town and suburbs ; we will meet at one 
o’clock for dinner, at the Hawaiian Hotel.” 

“Agreed!” exclaimed both, eager to begin exploring 
the wonders and beauties of this new world before them, 
while Barney’s eyes sparkled with the prospect of such 
agreeable employment. 

In an hour they were ready. By this time it seemed 
as if every one of Honolulu’s population had hastened to 
the wharf to welcome home-coming friends, or watch 
the bustle of debarkation. 

“Everybody wears a smile and a garland of flowers,” 
exclaimed Rollo, “and brings a few extra wreaths to 
throw over some friend’s shoulders.” 

“And such rich and rare ones, too,” returned Russell : 
“roses of every hue, japonicas and rare exotics in end- 
less profusion ; why, in America, each one of these 
wreaths would cost several dollars.” 

“And in this counthry they don’t cost a cint,” added 


\ 



“I slept in the locker that nig’ht; then towards morning I crept 
on deck. I could see the Chinee devils layin’ around in the bow, drunk 
with Sak§ and Opium.” 










28 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


Barney. “If flowers were worth two bits a bushel, the 
Kanakas cud all be millionaires.” 

It was a strange and motley crowd. Every half-civil- 
ized nation on earth seemed to be represented on the 
docks. Barefoot Chinese gardeners, wearing wide um- 
brella-like bamboo hats, were vending fruits and vege- 
tables in immense wicker baskets, depending in nets from 
each end of their shoulder sticks. Yokohama jinricksha 
men were flying to and fro between the shafts of their 
Japanese sulkies and carts. Portuguese, swarthy South 
Sea Islanders, and Negretto Papuans were engaged in 
long lines, rushing the barrels, bales and boxes of mer- 
chandise from the steamer’s hold to the wharf-sheds. 
Old gray-headed Kanakas carried calabashes swung on 
shoulder sticks, filled with many colored fish, flounder- 
ing lobsters, dried shrimps, or strange looking crayfish, 
and villainous smelling seaweeds and shellfish. Most 
picturesque of all were the Hawaiian women and maidens. 
The former were clad in holokus (Mother Hubbards), 
the national feminine dress, of red, green and yellow 
hues. In a temperate climate the costume would be re- 
garded as gaudy, but in warm countries, warm colors in 
woman’s attire do not seem to be out of place. Most of 
the younger women rode on horseback, astride of Span- 
ish saddles. Their lower limbs were swathed with a long 
strip of bright colored calico or silk, the ends of which 
were arranged to flutter like flags behind them, as they 
tore along the highways and plains in a furious gallop. 
Garlands were never absent. The tiara of white and pink 
flowers with which her black hair is adorned, and the 
queenly grace with which she rides her prancing steed, 
her clear brown skin, and sparkling eyes and teeth, give 
to the Hawaiian lady a place among the things appro- 
priate and beautiful of the world, an individuality both 
unique and inimitable. 

“What a difference between the frosty grimness of 


29 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

an assemblage in a temperate clime, and the jollity of this 
tropical crowd !” exclaimed Rollo. “Hear them talk and 
see them laugh! Everybody is chatting and jabbering, 
and no one without a jovial smile on his or her face. 
Then, too, they tell about the laziness of those who live 
under the vertical sun. Why, Russell, as far as I can 
see and hear, Hawaii is a veritable beehive of industry, 
and for its size they say it’s one of the wealthiest coun- 
tries in the world.” 

“Rollo,” said Russell, “shall we hire a jinricksha and 
circumnavigate the town Japanese style, or ride the trol- 
ley cars American fashion?” 

“An’ shure yez can’t climb thim precipices on a trolley 
or a Jimreckless,” put in Barney. “It’s a balloon ye’ll 
need to see all the wonders of this town and country in 
wan day.” 

“Or ride on bronchos, Hawaiian way?” added Rollo. 
“If they’ll buck-jump high enough, we can get a bird’s- 
eye view without a balloon.” 

“Auhea oe,” called Barney to a Kanaka standing near 
with three saddled horses. “Makena ka poe-poe o na lio I 
me he ku-kai-pele la ka momona. Me he anue-nue hoi ka 
hoai-lona. Kala pakahi a poo ka la.” (“Such wonderful 
plump horses ! each one as fat as a match 1 And cast 
shadows like wilted rainbows I One dollar each until sun- 
down.”) 

“Alua kala,” returned the young man, holding up two 
fingers. He was clad in a cotton shirt and trousers, with 
a brilliant crimson sash twisted into a belt. “Pii loa ka 
ma-nie-nie.” (“Two dollars! Bermuda grass has gone 
way up.”) 

The boys moved on, but the Kanaka was at their heels 
in an instant, and the bargain was soon made at a dollar 
and two rials ($1.25). 

“Here, Barney,” said Rollo, “just leave your Irish 
blarney behind, until we’ve seen the sights. J know you 


30 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

can talk good United States, for I’ve heard you. Now 
we’re off for Waikiki and a surf ride.” 

The horses were fresh, and cantered gaily along 
through the beautiful avenues. On every side were gar- 
dens of palms, roses and cocoanuts, bowers of vines, 
broad-leaved breadfruit trees, bending under their load of 
vegetable biscuits, cannon balls of fragrant dough as large 
as a child’s head. Elegant residences, surrounded by 
cool verandas, stood well back from the highways ; these 
were surrounded by rich tropical exotics, such as Trav- 
elers’ and Royal palms. Eucalyptus and wide spreading 
Hibiscus and Banyan trees. 

“Every dooryard is a botanical garden, different in 
beauty and variety from its neighbor,” exclaimed Rollo. 

The boys galloped out beyond the fertile plains of Wai- 
kiki. Then they dismounted and climbed the heights of 
the old volcano. Diamond Head, to its ancient crater, 
many hundred feet above the sea. 

“What’s the Hawaiian name of this volcanic cone?” 
asked Russell. 

“Leiahi,” replied Barney (“chaplet of fire”) and from 
this big hole thousands of years by gone, was scattered 
the black ashes that make the plains in and around Hon- 
olulu so fertile. Only think ! a hundred years ago it 
was a barren' dusty level. Now the planting of trees and 
gardens brings frequent showers from the mountain.” 

“And made it the world’s most beautiful and fairy-like 
tropical city,” added Rollo. “See these big guns and 
bastions, Russell ; Uncle Sam is fortifying Diamond Head, 
and some day it will be as impregnable a fort as Gibral- 
tar.” 

“It will dominate the Pacific as that rock does the 
Mediterranean,” added Russell. “Now let us go surf- 
riding like the Kanakas. See, there’s a heavy swell com- 
ing into the bay.” 

On reaching the cocoanut groves of the shore, they 


31 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

found Kalani, a gray-headed Hawaiian, with an out-rig- 
ger canoe, about to start out fishing. He supplied them 
with surf-boards and paddled them out to where the 
breakers were rolling the highest. Two Kanaka boys, 
about twelve years of age, accompanied them. 

‘‘Why, the surf boards are very much like my mother’s 
ironing board,” said Rollo. “I always thought they were 
miniature canoes.” 

“W e read in the Bible,” answered Russell, “ ‘A horse is 
a yain thing for safety.’ Well, I guess a surf-board beats 
a sea horse and all the other water craft for difficulty 
to handle. Ah ! there go the little heathens and Barney, 
too, plunk into the sea, and breast down on their boards. 
Here’s a big roller ; it breaks ! and they’re off right in 
front of it ! Hurray !” 

By this time both the boys and the old fisherman had 
divested themselves of their clothes, which the latter tied 
up in a watertight calabash. Just as the roller reached 
the canoe, he shouted : “Hoe ! Hoe ! Pa mai ke kai koo !” 
(“Paddle furiously! the big breaker is upon usl”) 

Rollo and Russell bent to their paddles to keep the 
canoe’s bow toward shore, while old Kalani sat steering, 
and paddling as if for dear life. It was an exciting race. 
The little brown savages and Barney kicked their legs 
high up, and rode down the breast of the big foaming 
breaker for many hundred feet. Then all hands turned 
in, to bail out the canoe, which was half full of the brine 
which had overflowed the gunwales. 

“Now, we’ll try it ourselves and ‘astonish the natives,’ ” 
cried Rollo. 

The boys were good swimmers, and soon took their 
places on the surf-boards before the onrushing billow. 
But in a twinkling it rolled them over and over, and 
bumped them several times on the sand. When Barney 
and Kalani hoisted them into the canoe by the legs, they 
were very glad to return to their natural element. 


32 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


“Russell,” said Rollo, “the delights of this surf-riding 
are not quite what they are cracked up to be. I’m think- 
ing that being run through a thrashing machine would 
be almost as jolly.” 

“I’m with you, Rollo. Surf-riding may be a mighty 
good thing in the abstract, but excuse me from the con- 
crete, particularly this sharp coral concrete. When youv’e 
been thumped several times on a coral rock, and swallowed 
a quart of brine (more or less), the poetry of the thing 
disappears. But, wasn’t it glorious to see those little 
Kanaka rats beat the big canoe in the race?” 

An hour later found them at the gate to the grounds 
of the Hawaiian Hotel, where Mr. Hadley met them. 

“Uncle,” said Russell, “before we register, why not 
lunch at that jolly little Chinese restaurant we passed on 
Beretania street?” 

“Capital,” added Rollo. “That salt water cobbler we 
drank has given me a shark’s appetite, even if we did 
have a duck for dinner.” 

“We’ll try it, boys, but don’t order any puppy stews 
or rodent side dishes.” 

“We found ‘Little Poodle Dog’ diet in ’Frisco very 
satisfactory,” returned Russell, winking at Rollo. 

“Shame on you, boys ! you don’t mean to say that you 
sampled the bow-wow dishes in China-town?” 

“Oh! no,” said Rollo, laughing; “we lunched several 
times at the popular restaurant known as the Poodle 
Dog; so called, I suppose, because the poodle dog is very 
conspicuous by his absence.” 

“And because they didn’t need a barker outside to draw 
the crowd in, either,” added Russell. 

“Now,” said their uncle, when they were seated in the 
Chinese hostelry, “this is evidently both Oriental and 
Hawaiian. The proprietor, Ah Wong Su, has a Hawaii- 
an wife and Japanese waiters.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


33 


“Yes, that’s evident from the bill of fare,” added Rol- 
lo. “Listen !” 

Soup. 

Periwinkle broth with rice. — Green turtle with alligator pears. 

Fish. 

Mullet, broiled in ti-leaf wrappers. 

Tipsy shrimps in pineapple champagne. 
Entrees. 

Chicken Chop Suey. 

Chili Con Came. 

Rice Curry, stewed with dried rabbit. 

Ham Omelet of Sea Gull Eggs. 

Shark’s Fin Fricassee with pepeiao (a la Pekin). 
Roasts. 

Young suckling pig, baked in imu, stuffed with Ewa oysters, 
and grated breadfruit. 

Vegetables. 

Sliced yams in cream. 

Boiled Kalo with salmon sauce. 

Sweet potatoes, stuffed with alligator pears, baked in imu. 
Taro Gems with ti-root syrup. 

Lobster Salad with Chinese cabbage. 

Drinks. 

Kona coffee with goat’s milk — (cream if preferred). 
Kwantung Tea. 

Sugar Cane Saungaree. 

Hawaiian Dishes. 

Young goat baked in imu. 

Broiled squid with poi. 

Dried shrimps with poi. 

Raw fish with chopped peppers and onions, ku-kui-nut garnish 
Wild peas with chopped seaweed and peppers. 

Boiled Fat Corned Beef with poi. 

Boiled salt pork with poi. 

Dried shark broiled (with roasted candlenuts). 
Boiled' pig giblets with poi. 

Desert. 

Roasted plantains with hard sauce. 

Baked bananas Avith lemon sauce. 


34 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


Mango pie. 

Papaiya pie. 

Ohelo Shortcake, Volcano House style. 

Guava Marmalade. 

Mango Plum pudding, banana sauce. 

Bird’s Nest pudding, — Poha Jelly or Mango Marmalade. 

Sliced sour guavas in honey. 

Sliced Iholena Bananas with cream. 

“A dinner with flavor Tropical, Oriental and Occi- 
dental, all at the same time,” remarked their uncle. 

“It beats murphys and salt intirely,” added Barney. 
“If the pig is of Irish descent, hedl give the dinner the 
Tipperary flavor too.” 

“Hadn’t we better assure ourselves of the pig’s ances- 
try by closer acquaintance?” remarked Russell. 

“That's getting inside information on the pork market,” 
added Rollo. 

“Very good, boys,” said their uncle, laughing. “Here^ 
my pretty little Japs, we’ll take roast pig all around — a 
regular dinner. Shall we secure inside information on 
the poi status, too, boys?” 

“Yis, indade,” put in Barney. “Whin ye can ate pig 
an poi like a Kanaka, it’ll make your hair stan’ on end wid 
joy.” 

The dainty ainesii maidens bowed low and smiled 
coquettishly, ducking their heads and sucking in their 
breath, as is the custom with Japanese servants, to ex- 
press willingness. In a few minutes they had the table 
groaning with delicacies, among which were four rations 
of poi, served in beautiful polished koa-wood bowls. The 
boys shied at the novel food staple for some time, until 
encouraged by the example of Barney, who ate it. Kanaka 
style, by carrying it to his mouth v/ith a dexterous twirl, 
after dipping in his fore-finger. 

“It’s like custard without the sugar in;” remarked Rus- 
sell. 



“I climbed over the taffrail into the crows-nest, where I cud see the 
cussedness above decks, and the Manchus choppin’ out the Keel in the 
hold. Whin the divils come after me, I saiilted into the say, sneakin’ 
back to me old friend, the barrel by the rudder,” 








36 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

“To me, it tastes more like a smooth porridge of con- 
densed milk and baked beans,” returned Rollo, smacking 
his lips over the broiled mullets and the salad of shrimps, 
peppers and onions. “I think I could eat it all right if 
I had fasted a week or two on an island five hundred 
miles from any other dish.” 

“Boys,” said their uncle, “don’t cultivate any prejudice 
against poi. It may be our best friend some day, when 
we are far away from civilization. Professor Alexis 
tells me that it is one of the most perfect foods known 
to man. For thousands of years it has been the bread 
and butter of nearly all the Pacific Islanders. With all 
the profusion of other delicacies around them the Poly- 
nesians want little else than this poi, and would regard 
its loss as the greatest calamity.” 

“Yes, we saw hundreds of acres of the growing taro 
today,” added Russell. “It looks like a calla lily, and 
grows in the water like the lotus plant. Barney says 
some of the roots are as large as your head.” 

“And moreover,” continued their uiicle, “it produces 
more food to the acre than any other plant, save the 
banana. Mr. Alexis tells me that one acre well tilled 
will support twenty-five to fifty people the year around. 
An acre of wheat land in the United States will hardly 
support one person. We should have great respect for 
such a philanthropic vegetable. The ancient Hawaiians 
built terraces, strengthened by rock walls with great 
labor, for the taro culture, far up into the deep watered 
valleys. These water pans or taro patches, as they are 
called, are now being appropriated by the Chinese for 
rice culture. Try these greens; they are the tender 
leaves of the taro plant, baked, and are very delicious. 
And Barney tells us that the root or leaves if eaten raw 
are so acrid they will throw a person into convulsions. 

“That acridity disappears entirely with cooking,” 
continued their uncle, “just as it does with the tapioca 


37 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

plant or manioc. It leaves the starchy root as dry and 
mealy as a potato, and with a delicious flavor in my opin- 
ion, that cannot be excelled by any other vegetable grown. 
It is so sweet and wholesome that many physicians pie- 
scribe it as a diet for their most delicate patients. I 
prophesy that kalo, like bananas, will some day become a 
staple article of food everywhere.” 

“I think ril stay well and put my trust in the old re- 
liable bread and butter and French fried potatoes,” put 
in Russell, eyeing the calabash of poi with evident dis- 
trust. “What’s in this dish so carefully covered with a 
wire screen? Here’s the tipsy shrimp salad you ordered, 
Rollo, I guess. Whoop ! Great Dragons and little Poly- 
wogs! Look out! Live shrimps, and — ^they’re more thaw 
tipsy! the champagne has given them the delirium 
tremens!'' 

The boys’ exclamations were drowned by the pretty 
little shrieks of the dainty ainesus, who crowded around, 
pretending to be scared out of their wits by the scores 
of shrimps that hopped high in the air, falling on the 
guests. When the inebriated creatures had been cap- 
tured, two of them being rescued from behind Mr. Had- 
ley’s neck, under his coat collar, their subdued silvery 
laughter could be heard from behind the screens at the 
end of the room. “They’ve learned how to act that little 
comedy very nicely,” said the Professor. 

, “Try some of this mango pie and the ohelo shortcake, 
Russell,” said Rollo. “Why! I always thought your 
mother’s apple pies and shortcakes were as near to the 
ambrosial food of the gods as we could get on this mun- 
dane sphere, but this — ” 

“Say, Barney,” interrupted Russell, a little jealous and 
hurt at this aspersion on his mother’s goodies, “how 
comes it that you haven’t grown fat on these delicacies 
of the Pacific, after living on potatoes and salt in the 
Irish bogs?” 


38 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


“An’ shure, me stumick and me corporosity ‘aven’t 
got over the .surprise yit,” returned Barney with a flash 
of Irish wit. “An’ whin I came to Dublin the first time 
with Dennis O’Leary, who niver ate anything better than 
pig and dandylion greens wance a month on Sunday, he 
were in that same perdicyment. We sthroled into a cafe 
to git a bite, an’ Dennis, he couldn’t read the maynoo; 
so he sez to the waiter, 'We’ll take them all, wan by ^ 
wan.’ Then he winks to me a-whisperin’ ; 'They’ll no 
ken we’re green, Barney.’ Well, the first snack were 
consomay, an’ Dennis smacked his lips wid it. The nixt 
was a glass jar of celery, lookin’ like a patch uv mustard 
a-sproutin’ in the fence corner. Then the waiter dumped 
on the table a blood red lobster^ the size .uv a young pig, 
an’ claws like the jaws of an alygator. At this Dennis 
jumps up a-shoutin’ ; and remonstrates wid his fists. 
‘Waiter,’ he sez, 'we’ve drank your dishwater, — we’ve 
ate your flower garden, but the divil fly away wid us if 
we can stummik yer murtherin' big red bug!'^^ 

The boys laughed heartily at this, — Dennis’ first intro- 
duction to a civilized dinner ; when their uncle remarked : 

“By the way, Barney, a letter for you. I found it at 
the postofiice.” 

The young Irishman looked at him incredulously. 

“I believe he takes it for an April-fool joke,” whis- 
pered Rollo to Russell. 

“It’s a tilligram from me great-uncle, the Lord Mayor 
of Dublin,” said Barney, swelling up as if with aristo- 
cratic pride. “Rade it to me.” 

“Just as you instruct, Barney. It’s postmarked Hilo, 
Hawaii; (that is several miles from Dublin) : — a lady’s 
handwriting too !” 

“A love-letter, as sure as cocoanuts ain’t bananas,” 
again whispered Rollo. 


39 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

Lau-pa-hoe-hoe, Hawaii, Oct. 9th. 
My Dear Friend Barney, 

Now is the winter of our discontent made beautiful 
by the coming of a messenger, bearing glad tidings. The 
evil doers in darkness are vanquished, and those who 
dwell in the light have triumphed over them, and taken 
their ill-gotten possessions. The pillage, wherewith they 
did defile themselves, seizing it by fire and sword and 
bloody hands, behold ! is it not hidden from the sight of 
man in the tombs of the kings, even the secret places of 
our ancestors. 

Nevertheless those who do evil in the sight of Heaven 
do pass to and fro in the land. In their rage they go up 
and down, seeking to slay those who have foiled their 
wicked machinations. 

I go to my own people. They are still wrapped in 
darkness, but their love for their Princess is great. My 
heart bleeds for their degradation. They cleave to their 
idols, but I go to bring to them the light of the Gospel. 
Will you not join me in this work of aloha (affection) ? 
Aloha for humanity, and aloha the one for the other. 
My soul is full of tender recollections of your kindness 
and devotion to me in Canton. Seek you now the Ka- 
huna, Hiwahiwa, in the Valley of Songsters (Waimanu). 
He will guide you in my footsteps, even into the Emer- 
ald Valley. Here are the passwords which will bind 
him to you as a faithful friend and servant; just as he 
is loyal and true to me. — “Ka hoapili no wau o Mine- 
lulu, ka mamo o” — add to this the name of my sailor 
great grandfather (you know it). 

Nad me ke aloha (yours with devotion), 

Minelulu of Paliuli. 

“Barney,” said Professor Hadley, “tell us truly; now, 
do you know where the Emerald Valley is, or is it only a 
myth?” 


40 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


“Be all the saints and angels, shure that same is a mys- 
tery to me, and IVe no more ken as to where to look for 
it than you would, in searching for the Garden of Eden, 
But I belave this much, from what the girl let drop, that 
it’s a secret place in the mountains of Hawaii, unbe- 
knownst to any civilized men, where the medicine men 
and the witch-craft men {Ka-huna anaana) go to get their 
orders from the High Priest of Pele (the Goddess of 
Fire). The girl, Minelulu, towld me that the valleys 
around it are like a paradise, and that she is heir to 
them all by her mother, who was descended from the 
Great King. And more than that even, the sandal-wood 
logs (here he lowered his voice to a whisper) are worth 
a hundred dollars apiece in Hong Kong/’ 

At this point there was a faint call of '‘Barney” from 
some point outside the restaurant. In a twinkling the 
young Irishman snatched up the letter and disappeared. 
When the boys reached the street, even the horse he had 
ridden had vanished. 

“Here’s Professor Alexis on his gasoline runabout,” 
exclaimed their uncle. “Mount your horses, boys, and 
come along. I promised to accompany him up to the Nuu- 
anu Pali this afternoon.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


41 


CHAPTER V. 

Russell Learns how to find the End of a Rainbow. — 
Where Kamehameha Hurled an Army over the Precipice. — 
Some More about the Mystery of the Emerald Valley. 

FTER the boys were introduced to 
the Professor, Russell asked him: 

“Mr. Alexis, what sort of a thing 
is this Nuuanu Pali we are going to 
see ? It isn’t a bull-fight or a monkey 
and cat show is it?” 

“Oh, no,” laughed the Professor, 
“the Pali is the end of this long wide 
valley of Nuuanu, which climbs up, 
back of the city, through a gorge in 
the mountain. There the gorge de- 
scends by almost sheer precipices 
thousands of feet to the coast level, 
and windward shores of Oahu.” 

“Rollo and I could descend the precipices easily, 
couldn’t we? with a little help from — ” 

“Oh, yes; almost instantly; all you have to do is to 
let go and tumble. That’s the way the army of Oahu 
went down, over a hundred years ago, a thousand or 
two feet. Their bones are bleaching now, on the rocks 
below the declivities. They had a little help, too, as you 
suggest, from the invading army of Kamehameha.” 

“How unpleasant it must have been for the Oahnans! 
And what good did all that athletics do, anyway?” 

“Not much, except in the final results. That was 
Hawaii’s Battle of Waterloo. It settled forever the 
petty wars and quarrels of the tribal chiefs, for a thou- 
sand years back, and gave the group one King.” 



42 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

The boulevard ascending the valley led our tourists 
past many magnificent avenues of cocoanuts, palms, ban- 
yans and other huge fronded tropical trees. Tropical 
palaces and gardens of exotics could be seen on every 
hand. 

“Some of these are the residences of the former Queens, 
Princes and Chiefs,” said Mr. Alexis. “There is the 
beautiful Royal Mausoleum. Many of the wealthy Chi- 
nese and Japanese merchants live here.” 

“It’s going to shower!” exclaimed Russell to Rollo, 
"See that exquisite rain bow spanning the valley, and 
bright but moist looking clouds behind it. I wonder 
where the big battle began. Til ask this young white man 
passing us on horse back.” 

“Yes, sir,” returned the horseman; “you can almost see 
it from here. Just ride to that second shower, then turn 
mauka (toward the mountain), and when you reach the 
right leg of the rainbow, that’s the spot from which John 
Young and Isaac Davis, the only white men in the army, 
opened fire ; they used cobble stones and cocoanuts for 
balls in their bob-tailed cannon.” 

“Thank you,” returned Russell, and remarked later 
to Rollo, “I wonder which is the most permanent feature 
of this landscape, the rainbows or rainbow chasers, like 
you and I?” 

Arrived at the notch of the gorge, they were impressed 
with both awe and admiration at the suddenness with 
which the mountain tops broke under their feet into dizzy 
precipices, displaying for 50 miles down the coast a fairy- 
land of pretty villages and plantations. Not the least 
picturesque was the postroad that wound a zig-zag way 
to the shore along the face of the cliffs. 

“See,” said the Professor, “from this peak your eye 
can sweep both sides of the island. The upper part of 
Nuuanu valley is a beauty spot, made interesting by the 
gardens and quaint homes of the Chinese and Jap gar- 


43 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

deners. Beyond that you see on the right a few miles 
beyond Honolulu, the salt lagoon of Ewa, upon which 
all the big nations have cast a longing eye.” 

‘T don’t see anything remarkable about that,” said Rol- 
lo. “They might raise a few oysters in it.” 

“I don’t believe they could even raise a fuss in it,” 
added Russell. 

“Uncle Sam thinks differently, and is cutting a deep 
channel into it through the coral reef from the ocean. 
Before long it will be the biggest naval station in the 
world’s biggest ocean. Congress is appropriating mil- 
lions for its development. That’s the famous Pearl Har- 
bor/' 

“Boys,” said their uncle, “this Honolulu harbor looks 
puny to you now, with its few dozen big ships anchored 
there, but when the Panama canal is opened, all that will 
change. Look on the map and you will see that we are 
now gazing at the halfway house between the Old and 
New World. Nearly all the transportation lines of the 
Pacific cross each other at nearly the same point. With 
one glance you will see that Honolulu is the focus of these 
intersections.” 


“Boys,” said their uncle two days later, “I haven’t 
much faith in that Emerald Valley myth that Barney has 
been stuffing us with.” 

“Neither have I,” returned Rollo. “No one that I 
have inquired of seems to know anything about it.” 

“Even the older missionaries and those who have made 
a study of the Hawaiian mythology and antiquities are 
quite doubtful of its existence. And yet, with all the 
high civilization that blesses the land, they confess that 
many of the people still cling to the old superstitions, 
particularly those living in the villages, remote from the 
ports, and in the less accessible valleys. It strikes me 


44 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

there may be some secret fountain head, whence the 
priests of incantation receive their instructions, and 
where the fires of idolatry and fanaticism are still kept 
burning.” 

“And I believe it too,” added Russell. “I was read- 
ing in the Hotel library last evening, a book written by 
King Kala-kaua, full of the legends and epic songs of 
old Hawaii ; in them this Paliuli is frequently mentioned. 
One fascinating and striking mele (legend) I read clear 
through. It was almost as well told and even more fan- 
tastic than any of the tales of the Arabian Nights; not 
much behind the story of ‘Aladdin’s Wonderful Lamp,’ 
or the ‘Enchanted Horse.’ ” 

“What was the name of it ?” inquired Rollo. 

“Here it is on this slip of paper — Laie-ika-wai ; Ka 
Wahine-o-ka-liu-la. The librarian translated it to me, — 
‘The Princess Hidden Under the Fountain, or the Mys- 
terious Lady of the Twilight’ (setting sun). She was 
born in Oahu, and concealed from her enemies in a grot- 
to under a little lake; afterward guarded in the Emerald 
Valley in Hawaii by dragons and fairies. Kings, Princes 
and great Warriors sought her hand in vain. The ro- 
mance was so fascinating that I forgot myself until the 
clock struck one.” 

“By the way, boys, have you seen Barney since he 
vanished so suddenly at the cafe?” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “last evening he met us and begged 
to be allowed to accompany our party to the volcano. 
Now, I heard you say several times that you intended to 
engage a dragoman to look after our horses and bag- 
gage. Why not employ the Irishman? He’s as sharp 
as a razor, — can talk Kanaka like an aborigine, with a 
smattering of Chinese and Japanese.” 

“And make it a condition that he’ll find the Emerald 
Valley for us,” exclaimed Russell. “That’s a safer prop- 
osition than fooling with the volcano. I’d give anything 


45 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

to explore that, — the ‘Garden of Eden' and Heaven of 
Hawaiian mythology." 

“Send him in to talk with me," returned their uncle. 
“By the way, here’s an account in the Honolulu Commer- 
cial Advertiser, of the mutiny on the Fay Yan, and the 
rescue of Barney Morrisey by yourselves. I’ve mailed 
several copies to our friends in the United States. The 
item states that Captain Jardine and the white officers 
and crew of the Fay Yan were reported picked up by a 
tramp steamer, near Midway Island, and taken to Yoko- 
hama." 

“That’s a downright lie !’’ said Rollo ; “I mean they’re 
deplorably misinformed; for Barney tells us confidential- 
ly that Captain Jardine is right here in Honolulu (in hid- 
ing, of course). He met him in Manoa Valley, and Jar- 
dine told him that his boats landed on the island of Mo- 
lokai, near the Leper Settlement; and his officers, who 
are not known on the Islands, have scattered to the dif- 
ferent ports to get clews of the mutineers, and the place 
of concealment of the opium.” 

“And the article goes on to say," continued their uncle, 
“ ‘that the Chinese mutineers made a landing on the island 
of Kahoolawe, and were seen there by some sheep drov- 
ers. They re-embarked in their boats for the Island of 
Hawaii, having a half white lady with them. Sheriff 
Lorin Anderson is hard on their trail with his deputies.’ ’’ 

“Is it not wonderful," said Russell, “that news spreads 
so fast on these Islands which have no cable lines between 
them ?’’ 

“Not at all," said their uncle. “Remember Hawaii is 
the only country in the world with a complete wireless 
system in successful operation. Every principal island has 
its station. Then each island has a perfect telephone 
equipment. Hawaii was the first country to adopt tele- 
phones, having no patent royalties to pay. 


46 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

“By the way,” said Russell, “we have not reviewed 
that letter to Barney from his friend Minelulu. If we 
can unravel the meaning, it may assist us in our travels 
and explorations on Hawaii.” 

“I very much fear,” said their uncle, “that she is an 
adventuress and will eventually lead Barney into diffi- 
culties.” 

“It strikes me differently,” put in Rollo ; “her letter 
breathes a lofty purpose. She speaks of the ill gotten 
possessions being concealed in the secret places of her 
ancestors. Now, wouldn’t you take it from this, that the 
contraband opium has been captured from the Chinese 
and secreted in Paliuli.?” 

“But,” said their uncle, “she says : ‘I flee to my own 
people, who love their Princess.’ Now we know very 
well that Uncle Sam would not tolerate for a minute with- 
in a Territory of the United States, such a sovereignty 
as Minelulu assumes to herself.” 

“But she gives Barney explicit directions how to find 
her, and names the guide who will conduct him to her 
presence,'” urged Russell. “To be sure, the whole letter is 
written with obscure expressions, and in a melodramatic 
style ; but that only shows her shrewdness. It is couched 
in such terms, that no one else but Barney can make use 
of it. The romance and adventure connected with this 
Fay Yan incident is quite fascinating, to say the least.” 

“Now, Russell,” returned his uncle, very firmly, “we 
came down from ’Frisco to visit the eruption of Mauna 
Loa, not on a wild goose chase, Don Quixote style, in 
search of lovelorn maidens in distress. To-morrow even- 
ing the steamer Mauna Kea sails for Hilo, and I want you 
boys to attend to getting our luggage and parapher- 
nalia on board, and complete the final preparations for 
our mountain trip.” 

“Uncle,” said Rollo, “both Russell and I would like to 
suggest one thing. We have enjoyed this comfortable 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


47 


hotel very much, and there seems to be a number of ex- 
cellent hostelries scattered about the Islands. But Mark 
Twain visited Hawaii, and wrote a book called ‘Roughing 
It,’ and we would like to emulate him a little. We can 
get all the hotel life we want in the United States, but the 
kid-glove and swallow-tail coat style of roughing it don’t 
suit us in a mild climate with wild mountains like 
Hawaii’s. We are going to ask you if we cannot have 
more camp life and strenuous simplicity. It’s less expen- 
sive than living at hotels, and Russell and I would en- 
joy more outdoor life. We can cook against any cow- 
boy on the plains, or gold-hunter in California.” 

“All right, boys ; you can buy a srhall water-proof 
tent, and when the weather is not too stormy, we’ll be- 
come fresh air fiends. But remember, the whites. Kana- 
kas and Japs of Hawaii are all very hospitable. I have 
letters to several planters and some of the missionaries, 
and we should not hurt any one’s feelings by refusing 
their courtesies.” 

The next evening found our party snugly ensconced 
on the comfortable Inter Island Steamer, Mauna Kea. 
Many other tourists were also passengers, bound for 
Hilo and the newly active volcano. 

“We are indeed fortunate,” said their uncle, “to have 
Professor Alexis in the party. He is an old resident, 
and has made a life-time study of the wonders of the 
Pacific, including Hawaii and its people.” 

“And will he join our expedition to the lava-flow ?” 
asked Russell a little anxiously. 

“Yes; I have persuaded him to join parties with us. 
You boys must do all you can to assist him in his sur- 
veys, in return for the information he will impart to us.’ 

“Oh ! good !” exclaimed Russell. “It’s such a relief 
to have an experienced man to guide and keep us out of 
extreme danger.” . 


48 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


“Most assuredly! You need not mention it, but the 
truth is that he goes at the solicitation of the territorial 
governor to ascertain whether the river of fire is liable 
to take such a course as to overwhelm Hilo and the sur- 
rounding plantations/’ And Mr. Hadley winked at Rollo 
mischievously, as Russell turned away with a blanched 
face. 

It was a pefect tropical night, with the soft trade 
wind fanning their brows, and the full moon throwing a 
sheen of golden light over the corruscating wavelets. 
The route was southeast, and they passed on the left the 
long island of Molokai, with lofty green peaks at its 
windward end, and a rocky volcanic peninsula stretch- 
ing out toward Oahu at the other. 

“Do you see that high precipice jutting into the ocean?” 
asked Professor Alexis. “Well, just behind is Kalau- 
papa, the Leper Settlement in a deep cliff-bound valley. 
It was made famous by the heroic devotion of Father 
Damien, who gave up his own life to carry comfort and 
religious consolation to those doomed to die from that 
incurable disease.” 

They next passed the low-lying island of Lanai, whose 
mountains barely reached to the clouds. “It looks for 
all the world,” remarked Russell, “like the back of an 
immense whale emerging from the ocean.” 

“And it is celebrated,” added Professor Alexis, “for 
its big, delicious watermelons, and a settlement of Mor- 
mons from Utah, who are engaged in raising sheep and 
wool.” 

“Rollo,” exclaimed Russell, the next morning; “wake 
up and come on deck. It’s five o’clock and we have been 
anchored at Lahaina for hours. A more tropical looking 
place you never saw or imagined.” 

Rollo was up in a minute, and from the deck the boys 
watched with interest the busy scene around them. 
There was no harbor, but a calm, open road-stead in the 


49 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

lee of Eeka, the mountain of West Maui, which towered 
7,000 feet above the town. Lahaina, watered by several 
rapid streams, rushing down through deep canyons that 
gashed into the heart of the mountain, lay along the 
shore for several miles. It was a perfect bower of Co- 
coanuts. Palms, Breadfruits, Pandanus, Pride of India, 
Banyans, Eucalyptus and other tropical fruit and shade 
trees. Everywhere could be seen luxuriant sugarcane and 
banana fields, wide-spreading graperies, varied here and 
there by lagoons of rampant taro and rice. 

Farther back from the town, the slopes and foothills 
were rocky, dry and red. But in every valley aqueducts 
were cut into the precipices and limpid streams of water 
led out to give drink to the thirsty earth, changing it 
into luxuriant plantations and gardens. These covered 
the lower slopes like tiaras of emeralds. 

‘Tt seldom rains in Lahaina,” said Professor Alexis, 
“therefore the climate and garden products are very 
similar to those of Damascus in Syria. I call it the Da- 
mascus of the Pacific. Like that city, too, it is a seat of 
learning. That long line of buildings, two miles above 
the town, surrounded by those park-like gardens of 
mangos, bananas, palms and candlenuts, is the College of 
Lahainaluna, established by the American Missionaries 
some eighty years ago. From that institution go out 
educated Hawaiians, Japanese and Chinese to all parts 
of the Pacific. Apart from the white students, who at- 
tend the Oahu Colleges, the educated men of Hawaii 
are Lahainaluna graduates.” 

“And what a jolly time the boys must have on Satur- 
days and vacation days, roaming and hunting, fishing 
and botanizing in those wild jungle-clad canyons and 
mountains,” exclaimed Rollo. 

“It’s a happy life they lead,” continued the Professor, 
“but a busy one. They cultivate their own taro and rice, 


50 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

and many support themselves as plantation overseers and 
clerks during the long vacation.” 

“It’s a puzzle to me,” remarked Rollo, “how so many 
rivers, brooks, and aqueducts can keep flowing or even 
exist in such a dry climate as seems to prevail on the 
leeward sides of these Islands.” 

“Listen, boys,” answered the Professor. “Do you see 
those enormous banks of clouds that enshroud the moun- 
tains of West and East Maui? They are swept up from 
the ocean by the warm trade winds, and cling by force 
of attraction to the summits and flanks of the moun- 
tains. Ascend and enter those clouds, and you will find 
a drizzle drizzle of rain or dew almost from one year’s 
end to the other. This water soaks through the porous 
volcanic rock, and enters the valleys through millions 
of little springs.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


51 


CHAPTER VI. 


Hilo Produces Big- Crops of Sugar and Volcano Eruptions. 

Barney Engages Two Smart Scamps, Boomguy and Spun- 
yarn. — They Start for the Lava Plow.— Where Fire and Water 
Have Built up a Delirium of Chaos and Beauty.— A Garden of 
Good Things in the Wilderness.— The Hunters’ Paradise.— An 
Exciting Stampede of Wild Bullocks.- Trail of Blood Across 
the Lava Fields. 


ERE we are at Hilo,” announced Pro- 
fessor Alexis as they emerged on 
deck. It was a glorious cloudless day, 
and the sun, rising out of the ocean, 
revealed to them a landscape as grand 
and beautiful as they had seen in any 
part of the world. “There is Mauna 
Kea to the right, towering in the air 
with its glittering peaks of snow and 
ice. This long slope covered with 
forests, leads up into the high table- 
lands of the interior. Hilo town you 
see, nestles along the crescent apex 
of the bay, surrounded and guarded 
by regiments of luxuriant cane fields and thriving sugar, 
pine-apple and coflfee plantations.” 

. “But where is Mauna Loa?” asked the boys in a 
breath, gazing around in vain for a sight of the volcano. 
“We’ve come 5,00.0 rniles to. see it, and lo! it has van- 
ished,” added Rollo. 

“Over there to the left. . The clouds are .just breaking 
away before the sun’s sharp rays. .Now you. can see its 
vast ..dome, and glittering .white cap over, .that bank. of 
cloud on. the horizon. Its summit is fi.fty m.iles away, but 
its slope begins right here. You will npt. be, disappointed. 



52 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


In bulk it is several times larger than its more preten- 
tious sister, Mauna Kea.” 

“And what is Hilo celebrated for?” asked Mr. Hadley. 

“Coffee, sugar and volcanic eruptions ; the last men- 
tioned being the biggest crop, but with the poorest de- 
mand,” returned Professor Alexis. “This gentle slope, 
covered with the richest tropical verdure, runs from a 
coast line some seventy miles long, up into the highlands, 
and offers nearly a thousand square miles of lands suited 
to sugar or coffee.” 

“And where are the signs of volcanic work?” asked 
Rollo in a disappointed tone. 

“Do you see that ribbon of black, breaking through 
the forest above the town? Well, that’s the lava flow of 
1 88 1. It came down from Mauna Loa’s summit, and 
when witliin a quarter mile of the town, Hilo’s destruc- 
tion seemed inevitable. The lava’s progress was inces- 
sant and only a miracle could avert disaster. On that 
day the whole population of Hilo gathered for prayer 
and supplication to their Creator, in the native mission 
church. From that very hour the demon of fire stayed 
his hand, nor moved that lava river another hundred 
feet.” 

“What is the present population of Hilo?” inquired 
Mr. Hadley. 

“About 8,000, and in the district 20,000. Hilo is also 
celebrated for its rain-showers. They say it showers 366 
days in the year, putting in an extra one for good 
measure.” 

“Faith ! an’ it’s a foine town for weepin’ widders,” ex- 
claimed Barney. 

“How’s that?” asked Rollo. 

“They say in Owld Ireland, the crvin’ widders git mar- 
ried first, because there’s nothin’ like a spell of wet 
weather to make good transplantin’.” 

“There was one exception,” continued the professor. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


53 


‘Tn the year of the great eruption (i88i) the spacious 
valley between the two big mountains became so heated 
that hardly a drop fell in six months.” 

No sooner had Barney landed the baggage and sup- 
plies than he busied himself with preparations for the 
Mauna Loa trip. The sudden in-rush of tourists had 
caused a dearth in the supply of horses. He got wind 
of a sale at the Government Pound and purchased at the 
auction three excellent horses for the tourists, and a 
mule for himself. Then he hunted up Keawe, a former 
volcano guide, who was an experienced mountaineer 
and goat hunter. Finally he selected, after much search, 
two assistants to care for the animals and do camp work. 
One of these was a Chinaman named Ah Sin; the other 
Puako (sugar cane blossom), was a half white and wild 
bullock catcher. Both had been sailors on a whale-ship, 
and both were experts in all the mysteries and handiwork 
of nautical and mountain craft. Moreover, they were 
not far behind (I regret to say), in the knowledge and 
practice of the many deviltries of Pacific Ocean civiliza- 
tion. In short, they were not only as smart as whips, 
but also a pair of consummately precious scamps. Ah 
Sin had abandoned his pig-tail and chopsticks, and now 
enjoyed the picturesque nickname of Spunyarn. His 
companion sported a cognomen that smacked also of 
the forecastle, and in public life was called Boomguy. 

‘AVhy, isn’t he the sailor who helped to blow up the 
junk Fay Yan?” asked Rollo. 

“The very same,” whispered Barney. “He took 
French leave of the Wanga Wanga, and iDobbed up here 
suddenly, looking for a volcano job.” 

Our tourists found the people of Hilo and vicinity 
somewhat recovered from the many acute attacks of 
“shivers and fever,” which the numerous recent earth- 
quakes and eruptions had brought upon them. It was 
true that there was on the tableland above, a great river 


54 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


of molten lava issuing from a rent in Mauna Loa’s 
summit. This threatened to descend the valley between 
the two great mountains, and destroy the town. It was 
a year’s job, however, for Madame Pele, the Hawaiian 
fire goddess, to engineer the fire stream to the ocean. 
Consequently Hilo was not only cheerful, but bustling 
and happy over the arrival of many tourists on their way 
to the crater of Kilauea, and the lesser flow on the coast 
of Ka-u. All night the fierce, light from the avalanches 
of fire blazed down from the far away mountain heights, 
with an intensity almost equal to sunlight. It trans- 
formed the cocoanut shaded town into a beautifully 
illuminated festive garden. 

With their horses and pack mules our tourists plunged 
into the primeval tropical forest that lay 'between Hilo 
and the interior tablelands. In the lowlands the noonday 
sun was fearfully hot, but showers of rain, the deep 
shadows of the jungle, and the canyon-like ravines gave 
frequent relief from its fervid rays. 

For two days they followed the course of the Wailuku 
River (Waters of Slaughter, so named from a bloody 
battle fought on its banks in ancient days). 

“It’s better to flounder over the jagged lava slabs in 
its bed, and swim the dalles where it deepens,” said the 
Professor, “than to bore and clear our way through the 
forest entanglements.” 

“The bottom of this valley must have been the favorite 
route of Pele’s fire streams in ancient days,” returned Mr. 
Hadley. “We see pits, blow-holes, crevasses and cav- 
erns everywhere ; we can’t be too careful of our steps.” 

“No, indeed!” exclaimed Russell. “I felt the twigs 
and grass giving away under me today, and went down 
to my armpits. But for my rifle and Keawe’s sudden 
grasp on the nape of my neck, I believe I would have 
slipped straight through and landed somewhere on the 
Congo River.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 55 

This warning was not groundless. The next morning, 
soon after starting in the gray dawn, Keawe’s packhorse 
suddenly gave a snort and despairing scream, and slid 
head foremost out of sight through the treacherous for- 
est debris of leaves and rotting wood. 

“Quick!” cried Rollo, “he’s fallen into a chimney. I 
heard a splash. Lower me with a lariat; we’ll hoist him 
out before he drowns I” 

But Spunyarn and Boomguy had already thrown a 
lasso over a tree branch, and the Chinaman was quickly 
lowered into a cavity a dozen yards in depth. 

“No use,” he shouted back ; “cussed horse, — heap dead 1 
breakee neck downside.” 

After recovering the baggage, they tramped on through 
the jungle. Imagine to yourself, reader, gigantic trees 
a hundred feet high, whose trunks support pyramids of 
woven lianas, huge creepers, air plants and climbing 
ferns. Between them grow tall bamboo like saplings, 
tree ferns, palms and wild bananas. This is occasionally 
varied by jungles of Pandanus (screw pines), with tufted 
whorls of long narrow leaves, like giant pine-apple plants. 
These are perched high on tangled stockades of aerial 
roots and bear luxuriant cones of golden yellow nuts, not 
very dissimilar to bunches of bananas. Imagine again 
all these lashed together by cable like vines, to the falling 
trees, branches and logs, into abbatis, further fortified 
against intruders by lava slabs and boulders ; and you 
have the typical volcano jungle; a veritable paradise for 
the naturalist but the terror of the sportsman and tour- 
ist. 

“Here,” said Professor Alexis, “is where Fire and 
Water have built up a delirium of chaos and beauty.” 

For three days they cut a narrow path with machetes 
and axes through this mazy forest, filled with ancient 
cones and winding crevasses, also a few swamps and tor- 
rents. Everything was green and rampant ; the fern 


56 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

fronds and huge leaves of the air plants mischievously 
deluged them with dripping water, as they brushed under 
them. This strenuous life gave them appetites so raven- 
ous that nothing eatable that came in their way was 
neglected. As Spunyarn expressed it, in his “pigeon 
English” dialect: — “Vely muchee hungry. Eatee quick 
raw jackass, — no choppee tail, no cuttee ears topside!” 
A wild boar and young goat were noosed by Boomguy’s 
dexterous riata, and Rollo and Russell shot several wild 
turkeys. Occasionally they feasted on the bananas, pine- 
apples, plantains and yams which grew wild along the 
streams. Their pack mules had not been heavily laden 
with provisions, for before starting, Boomguy assured 
them: “Me catch lassoo plenty wild bullock and puaa 
(boars). No use to kill jackass with too much pack. 
Suppose no bifi (cattle) then shoot wild kao (goats), 
jerk plenty meat in smoke.” 

So they depended on Boomguy for commissaries and 
determined, like Caesar in Gaul, to live on the country. 

At three o’clock, when they had made a fair day’s 
march, Keawe halted them in a grassy opening, and the 
horses were tethered to crop the rich herbage. Then he 
led them through the branches of interlacing trees, and 
over a log, fallen across a deep crevasse. Here they 
found themselves in a pretty little clearing, adjoining a 
small pond, surrounded by high cliffs. It was once the 
hiding place of a few runaway sailors and moonshiners, 
who had lived in seclusion for several years. 

Only Keawe knew of it, for Boomguy and Spunyarn 
expressed surprise at its existence. The hermits had 
planted fruit trees and a garden, and built a comfortable 
thatched shanty under the jutting cliff. 

In this deserted camp our tourists luxuriated on the 
little black trout (oopus), which swarmed in the poob 
sweet potatoes, sugar cane, guavas, mangos and Kum- 
quats (Chinese oranges). Meantime Keawe and his 


57 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

assistants pulled taro from the patches and baked it in 
an under-ground oven. They also filled the paniers with 
delicious scarlet smoke dried shrimps. These shrimps 
swarm by the million in the mountain streams of Hawaii. 
Rollo and Russell found them easy to capture in a fun- 
nel shaped basket. 

On the fourth day they suddenly burst forth from the 
heavy timber into a more open country, and soon as- 
cended into the tablelands, hundreds of square miles 
of which lay between the two great volcanoes. Much 
of this was fairly wooded and grassed, but seamed and 
gashed in every direction by ancient lava flows. 

“For thousands of years,” said Professor Alexis, 
“these lava rivers have intermittently flowed from rents 
around the great summit crater of Moku-a-weo-weo, and 
gradually filled up the valley between the two mountains 
to its present elevation.” 

“And do all the lava flows come from the craters?” 
asked Rollo. 

“By no means. In fact, there is not even a tradition 
of either of the two great craters overflowing. The 
egress of the fire rivers is always from a rent in the 
mountain’s summit or flank. There are several hundred 
square miles of Mauna Loa’s southwestern slope which 
are subject to these rents and flows. Sometimes the fire 
fountains break out not far from the ocean itself.” 

“This is what puzzles me,” said Rollo. “How can the 
rivers of fire break through the solid crust of the earth, 
which the geologists tell us is many miles in thickness, 
when the chimneys of the two great craters are open, and 
so near at hand, ready to relieve the interior pressure?” 

“You must bear in mind,” returned the Professor, 
“that every lava flow in its course, forms long under- 
ground caverns, through which the liquid metal is con- 
ducted from the source. Now these mountains' are built 


58 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


up from the bed of the ocean by successive flows and lay- 
ers of lava.” 

“Just like the layers on an onion,” exclaimed Russell, 
“and consequently, these mountains are honeycombed 
from end to end with subterranean tunnels, through 
which the lava can be forced like water through a pipe.” 

“Exactly ! and I believe there are several huge vertical 
funnels in the bowels of this fire-mountain, which con- 
nect with the interior of the earth. As the mountain, 
grows in height by the eruptions, the crust of the earth 
under it sags a trifle into the molten interior. This 
assists a little in producing both earthquakes and an up- 
rush of lava through one or more of these funnels. The 
real cause of the eruptions I will explain when you are 
more familiar with the craters, and have seen the new lava 
stream.” 

“Then,” said Rollo, “the whole island is liable at some 
time to sink back into the molten interior of the earth 
where it came from.” 

“Impossible!” returned Professor Alexis. “We know 
positively from records of the seismograph and seismom- 
eter, that the molten interior, although liquid, is several 
times denser than the* crust. Consequently, the crust 
floats upon the liquid as a cork upon the water, and the 
two bear to each other about the same specific gravity 
as cork to water. There is no power in the universe, 
short of the collision of a huge comet or one of the 
planets, which could force the crust back into the liquid.” 

“That's an immense relief to me,” exclaimed Russell. 
“Ever since I landed on the island, I have had a feel- 
ing that T was walking on a bubble or thin ice, which 
might collapse at any moment, and spill us into a white 
hot Turkish bath.” 

“Boys,” said Mr. Hadley, “is not this one of the grand- 
est landscapes you ever gazed upon?” 

“Yes,” added Professor Alexis; “we are now about 


59 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

8,000 feet above sea level. Twenty-five miles to the east, 
you see the cocoanut fringed coast, and the sugar fields 
of Hilo. The shore as far as your eye can reach is em- 
broidered, like a lace collar, with a wavy line of pearly 
snow-white breakers. Then the ocean, a sparkling zone 
of turquoise, stands up like a wall between the sky and 
Hawaii. That far away horizon cleaves the heavens from 
the earth. Between that fairyland of the shore and our 
feet, lies the wonderful, tropical, primeval forest, teem- 
ing with riotous life, and radiant in its luxuriant beauty.” 

To escape the annoyance of the wild dogs and even- 
ing fog of the tablelands, our tourists mounted a high 
hill on a spur of Mauna Kea, and camped in a cave under 
a jutting cliff. Mauna Loa now towered before them with 
all its grandeur and terrible beauty. For hours they 
watched the rapid changes in the kaleidoscope of Dame 
Nature, and the mighty dramas in which she was stage 
manager. 

'‘To say ‘magnificent and picturesque’ of this scene is 
almost slander,” exclaimed their uncle with enthusiasm. 
“There are no words in the language expressive enough 
to describe it. Now look at those regiments of huge 
fleecy clouds, driven tandem by the trade winds from 
over the horizon. They wing their way above the forest, 
like a bevy of wild geese, one behind the other. The ad- 
vance guard is filling up the vast silent valley at our feet. 
You would imagine them now to be a flock of sheep as 
they spread themselves over the tablelands to sleep. Here 
come a more ambitious platoon of them higher in the air. 
They have joined hands now for a cotillion, and are 
waltzing away toward Mauna Loa. They lose their airi- 
ness and begin to boil. Now the chasm between the two 
volcanos begins to seethe from one dome to the other.” 

“It’s like a caldron of eiderdown,” exclaimed Russell, 
“a bed so soft and fleecy that one is tempted to throw 
himself down on its snowy bosom. How wondrous 


60 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

strange it is to look doimi upon the clouds and see the 
top sides of them rolling along under our feet !” 

'‘There must be thousands of square miles of cloud 
tops, now visible to our eyes !” cried Rollo. “Below them 
it is dark, almost black, probably raining, while all above 
is radiant in the blaze of the afternoon sun.” 

“And do you notice,” added Professor Alexis, “that 
in all this vast ocean of eiderdown, as you call it, there 
are now only three little islands visible, the summit domes 
of Mauna Loa and Kea and the ragged pie-crust rim of 
Haleakala crater?” 

“Look there !” cried Barney ; “that long line of woods, 
— black and white spots, coming out in the open. They 
can’t be goats; too big!” 

“No I” exclaimed Rollo, looking through the spy 
glass ; “they are wild bullocks, by ginger ! and another herd 
in the valley; — and oh, Jiminy! one more bunch, — down 
that dark ravine !” 

“Yes, boys,” remarked Professor Alexis, “we are now 
in the famous hunting grounds of Hawaii. Turn your 
glass on the middle of that cliff yonder and you’ll see a 
flock of black and white goats.” 

“And whence did they come hither?” asked Russell; 
“they are not indigenous, are they?” 

“About a hundred and thirty years ago,” continued 
the Professor, “Captain James Cook discovered these 
islands and was murdered by the natives. A few years 
after, Vancouver, who later succeeded Cook in command 
of the squadron, brought from Mexico a cow and bull 
and several goats, with valuable plants and seeds as a 
gift to King Kamehameha. A taboo was proclaimed on 
the live stock, and in the course of time they increased 
to tens of thousands, running wild in these mountain 
fastnesses. For more than fifty years Spanish vaqueros 
hunted them merely for their hides and tallow. The 
wild cattle conceal themselves by day in the mazy forest 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 61 

and dense chaparral, then steal out to feed on rich herb- 
age in the open by starlight/^ 

Yes,” said Russell, still looking through the glass, 
I see five Spaniolos, just debouching from the woods 
below the herds. They are creeping up in the shadows 
of the ravine. They carry long lariats and have big log- 
gerheads on their saddles. Ah ! now the herd has scented 
them and broken like a flash for the tall timber. Hur- 
rah ! Five lassos swinging around the vaqueros’ heads 
in the air ! They are all stampeding down the slope like 
a whirlwind, horses and bullocks vaulting over boulders, 
logs and gullies like streaks of greased thunderbolts ! 
Such a dust and a barrel of fun ! One circling riata 
whizzes out like a long flash of lightning and, jerk! he’s 
got the big calico bull by the horns. No, no ! the bull’s 
got him! turned and tossed both horse and vacquero 
over the edge of the ravine I Lassoing wild cattle is no 
kidglove affair either. Another- lasso launched ; — that’s 
a sixty-foot throw. I’ll wager; now the black bull is 
noosed ; — he turns a double somersault down the bank at 
the end of the jerk. Whiz! two more lariats launched! 
Two nooses spin far out and land on the calico bull's 
horns ! The vaqueros yank him up to a tree. Now an- 
other riata uncoils ; — this time it’s the black cow ! She 
makes a dash ; the lariat twangs. Oh ! — she’s jerked with 
a somersault over a precipice, but the horse lays back 
nobly on his haunches, and the rope holds taut by the 
loggerhead !” 

“Boys,” interrupted Mr. Hadley, “look at the lava 
flow. The clouds have broken away from Mauna Loa. 
It’s growing dark. Is not that an awe-inspiring sight? 
A torrent of fire as white as the sun, gashing its way 
through this beautiful landscape from that open mouth 
of Hades. Note the dazzling sunlike flash from the flow 
at its source. You are compelled to avert your eyes. Then 


62 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

it changes from white to crimson, then blood-red as the 
avalanche nears the foot of the dome.’’ 

“That first fire-lake on the tablelands is at least three 
miles wide,” said Professor Alexis. “Then the red 
gleams which show its zigzag course across the great 
valley look, for all the world, like the campfires of. a vast 
army.” 

“It will reach the coast at Hilo in a month or so, will 
it not?” asked Russell. 

“Not quite so fast,” returned Professor Alexis ; “though 
liquid as water when it is vomited from that crevasse 
at the summit, and for a short time, it travels more than 
ten miles an hour, yet it cools so rapidly by exposure to 
the air that at thirty-five miles from its fountain head, 
its progress is often on’y a few feet a day. Wherever 
exposed to the atmosphere a crust forms on the liquid 
metal from two to six feet thick in a few hours. Under 
this crust the fiery liquid continues to flow, as a river of 
water runs under its blanket of ice in the winter time. 
To reach the ocean, many hundred billion tons of lava 
must be ejected; numerous canyons, basins of water and 
old craters must be filled up by the lava, as it plunges 
onward toward the ocean. I have once seen a lava 
stream surmount and cross a ridge over a hundred feet 
high.” 

“Professor, that volcano freak sounds almost too 
marvelous to be true,” said Mr. Hadley. 

“It was very simple,” returned Professor Alexis. 
“The lava stream followed old underground tunnels that 
carried it over the divide on the principle of a syphon, 
or a water pipe crossing a canyon. One of the most 
formidable obstacles to a fire river is a dense forest of 
lofty trees. Here the moisture of the ground, and the 
entangled trunks and jungle retard the lava’s flow; then 
the standing trees are burned ofif ; they fall in confusion 


63 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

and make a second obstruction, compelling the cooled 
rock and retarded river to pile up higher and higher.” 

“Now, boys,” said their uncle, “observe that cloud, 
shaped like a pine tree, rising over the summit of Mail- 
na Loa to the height of several thousand feet. What 
causes the dazzling white light of its lower base. Profes- 
sor?” 

“That is the reflection from the fire lake beneath, in 
the chasm of Moku-aweo-weo, nearly eight miles in cir- 
cumference. Those lurid flashes of zigzag and forked 
lightnings which play through the cloud, are among the 
strangest phenomena of erupting volcanos. They are 
caused by the enormous volumes of steam which are 
thrown aloft into the frigid upper currents of air, and 
changed instantly into thunder clouds. You can easily 
imagine that Jupiter and Vulcan are there, fighting a 
midair duel; — hurling fire and thunderbolts at one an- 
other. It is no wonder that the Hawaiians worship 
Pele, their fire goddess, with such profound respect and 
dread.” 

“She lookee like one big dlagon; big bom-bom fire 
clackers!” added Spunyarn. “Lat rivee look allee samee 
mighty big snake; no likee dlagon: — cook him! — lun 
down in sea water; — ;takee swim I” 

Our tourists slept under a jutting cliff of pa-hoe-hoe. 
All night they heard the distant explosions, caused by 
the sudden escape of pent-up gases from Mauna Loa’s 
adamantine bowels. Higher and higher rose the pine 
tree cloud, and the intermittent and frequent changes 
in color from light pink to cherry, then gory red, showed 
that the fire fountains of Moku-aweo-weo were tossing 
their crimson crests many hundred feet into the air. 

Boomguy and Spunyarn sat late by the fire and jab- 
bered volubly in the musical Kanaka tongue. Occasion- 
ally the half white would apostrophize the volcano and 


64 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


its deities, and Barney translated a few of his interesting 
exordiums. 

“Pele is holding high carnival in her fire palace to- 
night, with her brothers, Kane-wawahi-waa (smasher of 
big canoes), and Kane-hekili-poha (Prince of cloud 
splitters and thunder breakers). She rides the blood- 
red breakers with the whole crew of Hades. They 
shriek with fiendish glee, as the white-hot seething billows 
dash their surf-boards aloft from cliff to cliff. The fire 
fountains of Moku-aweo-weo leap toward the stars. They 
light the abode of the gods with a sheen that puts the 
sun to JDlush !” 

The next day was spent in crossing the table lands to- 
wards the Mauna Loa slope. Professor Alexis’ plan was 
to reach the new flow and follow it up to the summit crat- 
er. Now our tourists found that cutting a path in the jun- 
gle was mere child’s play, compared with crossing the old 
lava rivers of the highlands. Cones of scoria and cin- 
ders ; — chasms, crevasses, blow-holes, canyons and small 
craters; — huge boulders and jagged slabs of lava, moun- 
tains of a-a (porous lava slag), and cascades of pa-hoe- 
hoe presented almost impassable barriers to their prog- 
ress. Except for Barney’s inventive genius, they might 
have abandoned the task. With stout poles and cross 
bars, lashed together with thongs of rawhide, he con- 
structed a portable bridge, somewhat resembling a lad- 
der. Over this desperate makeshift they maneuvered 
their pack-animals, crossing the narrow canyons, and 
from one huge boulder to another. Occasionally they 
were compelled to plunge boldly into a river of a-a, and 
force the trembling animals through delirious mazes of 
sharp jagged lava spikes, and horrid slag-like scoria. 
After floundering, scrambling, and vaulting through 
this raspy hades, the poor brutes’ limbs and flanks were 
wet with blood from many welts and bruises. 

‘T will never again ridicule the meek and much abused 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


65 


mule,” exclaimed Rollo. “Our entire luggage is lashed 
to their backs, and most nobly do they scramble over 
glassy rocks, scale precipices, thread narrow tunnels and 
ledges. They perform feats which no other animals but 
goats could accomplish.” 

“Yis,” said Barney, “they’re swate angels, until one 
av thim gits a chance to lay down wid you on her back, 
an’ rowl over you on the sharp donnicks.” 

At noon our tourists appeared to themselves to stand 
in the middle of a vast sea of black lava waves, like an 
ocean suddenly congealed, just at the height of a terrible 
typhoon. Only the two distant volcano peaks of Mauna 
Kea and Loa broke the saw-tooth rim of the surround- 
ing horizon. 

On nearing Mauna Loa they encountered extensive 
fields of clinkers, or level pa-hoe-hoe (smooth, hard lava), 
and here they could often canter their horses, as over a 
city pavement. 

The sixth day brought them to the new How. 

Words can hardly express the sublime horror with 
which the first experience of a live volcano inspired the 
minds of Rollo, Russell and their uncle. 

The country here was somewhat level, occasionally 
marshy, and studded with patches of dense forest. The 
fire stream, a little more than a mile wide, was eating 
its way over the table land about fifteen hundred feet a 
day. 

“Do you notice, boys,” said Professor Alexis, “that it 
is difficult to eliminate from our minds the superstitious 
fantasy, that there is in this lava flow s6me fierce and 
vindictive demon of death and destruction, possessing 
a will power and intelligence of his own ; — a fire dragon, 
for instance, with a cerebellum located somewhere in the 
heart of the mountain?” 

“Yes,” returned Rollo, eagerly; “that just expresses the 


66 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


way I feel toward the whole volcano. If reason and in- 
telligence did not assert themselves, I could easily become 
a fire-worshipper, like the ancient Hawaiian.” 

“And I confess to the same hallucination,” chimed in 
Russell. “It came on me with a double force when I 
smelled for the first time the strong odor of brimstone that 
pervades the air near the fire-flow.” . 

“That’s another strange development,” said Rollo ; 
“it affects me differently. I was almost instantly aware 
of a dulling of the sense of fear, when I inhaled the sul- 
phur fog. I was tempted to walk right onto the flow and 
see what it was like. The horror of it appeared to 
vanish.” 

“Not an unusual result of inhaling sulphurous acid 
fumes,” added Professor Alexis. “It is a common say- 
ing in the army, that the most timid men will often fight 
like devils when once they inhale the burning powder 
on the battlefield.” 

The lava of the fire river had a consistence like thin 
mortar, and a color midway between blood and the white 
heat of liquid iron as it issues from the foundry cruci- 
ble. It writhed and twisted its way along the ground 
in whorls and eddies, that resembled the contortions of 
a titanic boa constrictor. Where the ground sloped away 
at an angle from the direction of the stream, the advance 
rivulets became huge snakes that rolled laterally on the 
ground until twisted into monster cables. At the edge 
of the flow the heat was terrific. Where the molten metal 
passed over wet ground, clouds of steam rose up with 
continuous explosions, varying from the rapid fire of 
giant fire-crackers to the deafening boom of an 1 8-inch 
cannon. As a result of the steam forces, from wet 
ground, the congealing masses were often thrown into 
ridges and hills of porous a-a, — the light frothy lava. 

“What a marked difference there is between the />a- 
hoe-hoe and the a-a/’ remarked Mr. Hadley, 


67 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

*‘Yes,” said Professor Alexis ; “you will find the a-a 
in wet localities or where the fire river runs down the 
declivity with such rapidity that it is churned up into 
a foamy consistence. The pa-hoe-hoe, on the other 
hand, is the result of slow congelation, or of cooling 
off under pressure. In very rainy localities the surface 
of the a-a flow disintegrates into fertile soil in from 30 
to 50 years. But the hard pa-hoe-hoe retains its integ- 
rity and resists the tooth of time for ages, particularly 
in a dry climate. Now you notice that the surface of 
the flow soon turns to a jet black. This crust is fre- 
quently broken up into slabs by the pressure from below 
of the on-coming tide. These become piled up in a 
delirium of fantastic combinations, or are engulfed and 
again melted into the devouring torrent. 

“It's a puzzle to me,” returned Mr. Hadley, “to ac- 
count for two such dissimilar volcano products.” 

“You are not the only puzzled Scientist. I myself am 
inclined to believe that a-a is lava that has crytallized, 
just as sugar granulates under certain conditions. 


68 


Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 




CHAPTER VIL 

A Cavern Infested by Wild Dogs. — Herd of Wild Cattle 
Surrounded by the Lava Flow. — The Bull Cremates Himself 
in the Volcano River. — The Midnight Feast on Wild Dog. — 
Rude Awakening. — Trapped by the Lava Flow. — All is Lost! 
— The Guide' Leaps to his Death in the Fiery Chasm. 

UR tourists now toiled on up-stream 
and halted at an old stone corral, at 
the converging point of two old lava 
flows. This corral was constructed 
for entrapping herds of wild bullocks, 
and later abandoned by the vaqueros 
who built it. Here, on a gentle slope 
of Mauna Loa, was a spacious cav- 
ern, overlooking the corral. Water 
and grass were plenty, and the weary 
animals were turned loose in the en- 
closure. 

''Uncle,” said Russell, "this cave is 
infested with {leas. We never can 
sleep a wink to-night. Where in the world did they 
come from?” 

"Wild dogs and goats bring them here,” said Profes- 
sor Alexis. "With a little search we can probably find one 
less accessible to them.” 

"You hear wild dog ow-ow?” exclaimed Boomguy. 

"Yes; — sounds pretty ferocious, don’t it? What does 
it mean?” returned Russell. 

"One bull, — three cow, — three calf,” said Boomguy, 
pointing downward toward the new lava flow. 

"Nonsense,” said Mr. Hadley; "dogs don’t count; 
much less advertise the number and gender of their 
quarry !” 



69 


A Tlirilling Tale of the Tropics 

‘Never mind, Boomguy savey ow-ow, — wild dog 
lingo — same you read book. All hands pi-mai (come 
on). Spunyarn, — bring gun, — lazzoo, — knife, — ax, pai- 
pai (quick!) — eat fat pig tonight.’' 

Immediately all was bustle. Each armed himself with 
his own familiar weapon and followed the bullock catcher, 
who only carried a lariat. Between them and the fire 
river was a little green canyon-like valley. To reach it, 
however, they must cross an old flow of pa-hoe-hoe, 
whose stream, though narrow, was choked with lava 
slabs, — so wildly disordered that nothing short of a man 
or a monkey could make a passage through it. By des- 
perate leaping and scrambling from boulder to boulder, 
they reached the low ridge over-hanging the valley. 

“Boomguy was right,” exclaimed the Professor. 
“Three cows with calves, and a big, black, curly wooled 
bull; all as fat as butter.” 

“And a pack of wild dogs nagging them,” added Rollo 
excitedly. “Look ! they are herppied . in on three sides 
by cliffs, and at the mouth of the valley by the new lava 
river. They are doomed to be starved or burned to 
death.” 

“Not a bit of it,” returned their uncle. “There’s green 
stuff enough in the valley to last them for months. The 
canyon is fifty feet above the level of the new lava.” 

Boomguy, without hesitating, lowered himself into the 
valley by a convenient tree, and crept stealthily toward 
the herd with his lasso. But the bull, mad with impotent 
rage at the dogs, no sooner caught a glimpse of this new 
adversary, than he lowered his sharp horns, and made a 
lightning dash fdr him with a fierce bellow. 

“He’s gone I” shouted Russell, “shoot quick, Rollo, 
or he’ll be gored to death. No ! by Jove ! he’s dodged 
him and skun up a tree; hurray for Boomguy!” 

At this moment, a savage squeal was heard up the 
canyon and a wild hog dashed down, followed by Spun- 


70 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


yarn. Crack! went Rollo’s rifle, the hog gave a shriek 
of agony, and running erect on his hind legs a rod or 
more, fell into a blowhole. At the sharp report of the 
gun, the wild cattle and dogs started furiously down the 
valley, followed by the bull. Boomguy was stealing down 
a gully not far in the rear. 

“There they go 1” yelled Russell almost hysterically, 
as he looked through the spyglass, “like a streak of 
greased lightning; now they balk at the edge of the fire 
river ; — it’s certain death to go farther ; now they’ve 
sighted Boomguy and are breaking pell-mell across the 
lava! Their legs will be burned off! Crack! Listen to 
that agonized bellow! Great Jehosaphat! The bull has 
broken through into the hot metal. One big puff of steam 
and smoke ; — he’s cremated instantly into ashes ! One 
cow has balked at the home run. There goes the long 
circling lasso ! It settles round her horns. The other 
bullocks will meet the fate of the bull! No! they limp 
up the opposite bank, bellowing with pain ; — ‘a little dis- 
figured, but still in the ring.’ Their tails and, hair are on 
fire ! The wind brings the smell of their scorching to 
our nostrils. Now the cow is after Boomguy like a 
shot, — crazy with the pain in her burnt hoofs : — he’s 
dodged up onto a boulder. Well, shiver my timbers ! 
If the daredevil hasn’t jumped astride of her, and is 
plunging his spurs into her flanks ! She’s sorry now that 
she didn’t bolt over the hot river with the rest of the 
herd.” 

Up and down the valley rushed Boomguy’s maddened 
steed, followed by the yells and laughter of his delighted 
audience. At every bound the lunges of the bullock 
catcher’s rowels brought a bellow of rage and agony. 
Even the wild dogs joined in the melee, howling, yelping 
and snarling; until a ball from Spunyarn’s rifle knocked 
over the leader. 

Finally Boomguy tossed his lariat to Spunyarn, and the 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


71 


cow was wound up to the tree with a jerk. All hands 
now drew their hunting knives and she was soon flayed 
and quartered. 

Spunyarn now reported a cave in the cliff at the head 
of the valley, and our tourists voted to camp there, in 
preference to enduring the fleas at the corral. Boomguy 
looked up at the mountain, then down to the lava flow, 
and shook his head ; but finally yielded under protest. 
How bitterly did they repent their carelessness but a few 
hours later! 

The tourists feasted that night on porterhouse steaks 
and pork tenderloins, with roasted potatoes, from a patch 
which had run wild, from a former planting by the 
vaqueros. 

“Here’s a pail of wild akalas” (Pacific raspberries), 
said Russell, while they were banqueting. “They are just 
in season ; — the vines are loaded with mammoth fruit, — 
as large as hens’ eggs. But, Shades of Gilead ! what are 
these exquisite odors that fill the grotto, contrasting with 
the villainous stench of the volcano?” 

“Some Genie is doubtless near at hand, who will waft 
us presently into the presence and court of the Fire God- 
dess,” returned Rollo. 

“Boys,” cried Russell with enthusiasm, as the pungent 
fragrance grew heavy in the air, “this is a dream of the 
Arabian Nights! We are lured to repose by the intoxi- 
cating frankincense of Cathay. The awakening will 
be in an ivory palace, basking in the smiles of the hour- 
ies of Pele !” 

“Sit down, Russell, and eat your beefsteak,” inter- 
rupted his uncle. “Pull the feathers out of the wings 
of your imagination and graft them into the tail of your 
good sense. Do you see that rough stump of reddish 
yellow wood on the fire? Well, that’s your Genie from 
Bagdad ; — worth fifty cents to one dollar a pound, if we 


72 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

were in Hong Kong. One of the most valuable and pre- 
cious woods in the world. A log of sandal wood/' 

“Gee whiz !” cried Russell, his eyes fairly bulging with 
wonder; “and is it quite plenty around here?” 

“No,” said Professor Alexis; “the trees are almost 
extinct in Hawaii, I am sorry to say. A hundred and 
ten years ago, the great King Ka-meha-meha exported 
hundreds of shiploads of the precious sweet scented tim- 
ber. It brought wealth to Hawaii in the early days, as 
did gold to California, and pearls to India. But the gld 
savage played fast and loose with this tree of great price. 
He compelled thousands of his subjects to become serfs, 
and undergo terrible hardships in the rain-drenched 
mountains and canyons, while in search of this vegetable 
gold and frankincense. At one time his annual income, 
from this source alone, was said to be $400,000. Today 
sandalwood can only be found on dizzy precipices, acces- 
sible only to birds and monkeys.” 

“Boys,” said their uncle, “what say you to camping 
here a day or two, to recuperate the horses, and give 
Professor Alexis an opportunity to make his surveys?” 

“I was just about to suggest that,” returned Rollo; 
“we would like to study the wonderful phenomena of 
lava rivers a little more closely.” 

“Yes,” said Russell ; “Rollo will never be satisfied and 
happy until he has enjoyed the fun of having his hair 
and clothes burned of¥. Just think what a jolly lark the 
bull and cows had in getting out of their scrape today!” 

“Well, boys, bring over from the corral everything 
the dogs and wild hogs are liable to molest.” 

Before they lay down to sleep. Professor Alexis told 
ofif the night into watches, and each member of the party 
took his turn as vidette on the clifif above. They were 
surrounded by many dangers. 

“Those frequent explosions and distant gleams of 
white light show that Vulcan and Pele are attending 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


73 

strictly to business/’ remarked Professor Alexis. “They 
are handing out pyrotechnics with lavish hands.” 

In several directions our tourists could hear the fierce 
bellowings of wild bulls, engaged in mortal combat ; — 
duels fought under the white and crimson effulgence of 
the distant fire fountains. All night these portentous 
noises disturbed their slumbers, varied by the yelping of 
a pack of wild dogs, in full cry after some unwary cow 
and calf. Mr. Hadley heard Rollo muttering in his 
sleep, “There’s more fun in these mountains than a 
whole canoe-load of bob-tailed monkeys!” 

Toward one o’clock Barney woke up Rollo and Rus- 
sell with a whisper. 

“Your trick at the watch, Rollo ; but whist 1 kape mum ; 
do you see that Boomguy and the haythen Chinee are 
gone? bad luck to thim yaller divils!” 

“I saw Spunyarn steal out with something in his 
hand,” whispered Russell. “The Professor’s little brown 
jug is gone,” added Rollo, still whispering and looking 
around. “What does it mean?” 

“Thim dihrty blackguards 1 they’ve konobled the can- 
teen of potheen, intirely, but whist ! follow me. I bet 
a cocaynut it’s another eruption that’s a-comin’ ; and it 
ain’t the volcano nayther. I seen thim a-scorchin’ the 
hair off the bow-wow, whin the sun wint down, and it 
manes a haythen loo-ozv, with a wind up that’ll jar the 
donnicks thimsilves into hysterics wid laffin’.” 

Ascending the cliff they followed Barney down the 
ridge, and peeped over a jutting rock. A weird sight 
met their eyes. Boomguy and Spunyarn had dressed 
the carcass of the wild dog the evening before, wrapped 
it in green fern leaves, and baked it in a hot crevice of 
the new lava flow. Now they were eating it with a 
garnish of kii-kui mo-a (roasted candle-nuts), made hot 
as tophet with chopped red peppers and onions. Dipping 
their fingers into a calabash of poi, they carried the mor- 


74 


Adver. hires of Eollo in Hawaii 


sels of bow*wow to their mouths, smacking their lips 
with great gusto over the harharous delicacies. The 
uncanny feast was washed down hy sundry pulls at the 
jug, which contained the very best quality of O-kole- 
hao (ti-root rum). 

Barney nudged the boys to pay close attention, and 
whispered a few words in their ears; whereupon they 
stuffed their handkerchiefs in their mouths to repress 
exuberant chuckles. 

'‘Shure, an’ we’ll see the fire-woruks now,” said Bar- 
ney. 

Now this fiery liquor, though contraband by law, is 
much beloved by the beach-combers and low whites of 
Hawaii, who distill it from the steam-baked roots of 
the Dracena plant. This grows with great luxuriance 
in the moist, warm valleys. The name 0-kole-hao is a 
comic appellation, meaning, — (translated freely), “Dew- 
drops of the Iron Tail,” (from the gunbarrel usually 
used in its distillation). Boomguy and Spunyarn were 
not aware that Professor Alexis used the liquor in the 
place of alcohol to preserve insects, small reptiles and 
other scientific dainties in. 

The two scamps were in the seventh heaven of enjoy- 
ment. Suddenly Boomguy leaped up and gave a yell, 
at the same time jerking out of his mouth and throat a 
fine specimen of a centipede, nearly ten inches long, with 
a hundred legs (more or less). He had nearly swal- 
lowed it from the jug. Simultaneously Spunyarn com- 
menced to spew and swear in pigeon English, uttering 
a volley of left-handed blessings that would have shocked 
even a Mississippi steamboat captain. He had swal- 
lowed two large caterpillars and nearly imbibed a Mauna 
Kea mouse, several scorpions, spiders and butterflies 
from his cocoanut drinking cup. 

The prophesied eruption now took place : — Owck- 



Boomg-uy and Spunj^arn banquet at midnight on Wild Dog. They 
find Scientific Dainties (centipedes and lizards) in the Professor’s stolen 
rum jug. “I bet a cocaynut.” said Barney, “there’s another eruption 
cornin’, and it ain’t the Volcano ayther.” 




Their Escape was almost a Miracle. As they scaled the ingenious 
Ladder a Niagara of Fire licked up the Camp, and soon filled the 
Pepper-box Crater. 



75 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

ck-ck! oo-wack-ck! ough-lvh-wack ! wow! wack-ck-ck I 
were the only remarks they made for some little time. 

Rollo and Russell laid back on the grass and laughed 
until their strength failed them. “Hard times there!” 
whispered Rollo ; “everything going out and nothing com- 
ing in. But hist ! now listen to Spunyarn. He’s explain- 
ing the situation.” 

“Say, Boomguy, Melican man too much plenty grog 
drinkee, see thousand big snakee boots inside, wely good ; 
Kanaka, — Chinee wely much rum swig, lookee ! only 
one centipee, picanini mouse, wee wee bugs.” 

Here the boys rushed down the bank, yelling with 
laughter ; to the astonished chagrin of the revellers, who 
dropped on their knees in penitence. 

“Pardon our intrusion,” exclaimed Rollo ; “we thought 
you needed some medical assistance; put the Profes- 
sor’s pickles back in the jug and hand it to us; that 
closes the incident, as the diplomats say.” 

It was five o’clock when Rollo awoke, with a dread 
sense of impending evil. A glimmer of dawn pierced the 
darkness, showing that all the party were fast asleep 
around him, save Keawe, whose turn it was on the clifif. 
The air was murky with smoke, steam and sulphur; a 
confused rumble like the bumping of rocks in the bed of 
a spring freshet, was barely audible from the walls of 
the cave. In an instant he awoke Barney and rushed 
with him to the top of the declivity. There they found 
the Kanaka guide fast asleep behind a rock. One glance . 
at the old pa-hoe-hoe river between them and the cor- 
ral, froze their hearts with terror and dismay. It was 
filled with molten lava! and the current was growing 
whiter every moment. It had already reached the main 
stream at the mouth of the valley. 

“Boomguy!” shouted Barney, hoarsely, “Wiki wiki! 
pii mai ! e make ana kakou i ka huhu o ka Pele !” (“Come 


76 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

up in desperate haste! we perish by the fiery anger of 
the Goddess!”) 

And Rollo added : '‘Wake up all ! the fire river is upon 
us; lose not a second!” 

In a few moments the whole party had scrambled up 
the tree trunk, and with unspeakable dread looked, first 
at the rising torrent of fire around them, and then hope- 
lessly into each other’s faces. 

“The valley is now only an island in the river of fire,” 
said Professor Alexis. “In half an hour that will disap- 
pear under the molten stream. Look! The flow is 
bringing down a tangle of burning forest trees, a-a and 
lava slabs on its surface. It is plain the main stream 
was choked and over-flowed into this old river bed. Boys, 
in a few minutes the heat and sulphur fumes will end our 
career on earth; let us prepare to meet our Maker.” 

“Auwe ! Auwe !” groaned the guide, and cried out in 
his own language, “I alone am the cause of this disaster. 
Curses on this, my drowsy head! But I may save the 
day yet! I will leap the chasm and bring back Bar- 
ney’s ladder bridge!” 

Before they could protest, the desperate Kanaka 
sprang to the rocks in the fire flow. Each leap from 
one boulder to another was fraught with death ; his 
clothes were smoking, — now they were on fire ! Only 
one more chasm, and that the widest; he made a mighty 
vault. 

In the murky darkness they saw, by the light of a 
wierd gleam from Mauna Loa, a dark object strike the 
next boulder, and roll down into the lurid tide. They 
heard a despairing shriek, and the grewsome reek of 
burning hair and flesh that was borne to their nostrils, 
made their hearts turn sick with horror and despair. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


77 


CHAPTER VIII. 

One Desperate Hope only.— A Little Hole in the Cavern 
Wall. — A White-hot River Sweeps over their Heads. — How 
did Minelulu’s Handkerchief Come here? — Weird Tunnels and 
Strange Volcano Freaks. — Are not these the Remains of 
Captain Cook and the Kings of Old Hawaii? — Priceless Treas- 
ures of Antiquity. 

UICK ! Quick ! run clown !” shouted 
Boomguy. “Pa-hoe-hoe wiki wiki 
fill up gulch ! Back to cave ! Little 
hole in rock ! May be safe yet !” 

Trusting all to the brave and cool 
half-white, they clambered down the 
clifif as a drowning man snatches at a 
straw. On reaching the cave, they 
found Boomguy and Spunyarn wield- 
ing a big slab of lava as a battering 
ram. One wall of the cavern was of 
a-a, and Boomguy had conceived the 
idea, when nailing a peg into it with 
an ax the night before, that there 
might be a hollow behind it. If so, and the a-a would 
yield, the party might be safe for an hour or two at least. 

The lava was now pouring over into the valley, and its 
roar was like that of a Niagara. Hotter and hotter grew 
the atmosphere around them, and they became weak 
from excessive coughing. 

A terrible roar and rumble now smote the air in the 
valley. Looking out, Rollo saw that the clifif had fallen 
in, and dammed up the mouth of the ravine. This 
would turn the torrent toward the cave. In a few min- 
utes all would be over. 

They now had two battering rams swinging against 



78 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

the only weak place in the a-a wall. Suddenly one of 
the slabs crushed through and disappeared. Rollo snatched 
a blazing brand from the fire, and forced his body through 
the narrow breach. 

“We are safe for the moment,’’ he shouted back. “I 
see a black tunnel beyond this grotto. Thank Providence ! 
it leads upward, instead of down the mountain!” 

With desperate energy Boomguy and Spunyarn bat- 
tered away at the a-a to enlarge the aperture. Then the 
whole party thrust the quarters of beef, calabashes of poi, 
panniers of provisions, canned goods and other camp 
luggage through the opening. Their haste was more 
than desperate, for they were surrounded by smoke and 
fire. Professor Alexis followed last. 

“Don’t kill yourselves with over-exertion, now, boys 1” 
he shouted cheerily. “The worst is over. The lava has 
entered the cave but it is rising slowly. Boomguy has 
partly blocked up the opening with slabs.” 

After they had carried their salvage up into the tun- 
nel, and out of danger, they sat down to rest, and 
watched the incoming molten stream. It soon melted 
through the obstructions, and an hour later stood several 
feet deep on the floor of the spacious grotto. This they 
estimated was about sixty feet in diameter. 

Spunyarn now improvised some lamps from sardine 
cans, filled with fat, with rope yarns for wicks. Leaving 
Barney to superintend the cooking of breakfast, the 
white members of the party started to explore the tun- 
nel for about a quarter of a mile. 

“Boys,” said Professor Alexis shortly after starting, 
“if you wish, you can stay here and rest, while your 
uncle and I proceed a little farther. If we do not find 
an egress to the open mountain side, we will be back in 
a few minutes.” 

They were no sooner alone than Rollo pulled from his 
coat pocket a piece of white silk and held it to the light. 


79 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

“Good heavens, Rollo ! What have you there ? a lady’s 
handkerchief, upon my word, of finest Chinese silk ! 
The name on it too, embroidered in red. Why, it’s 
Minelnlu r 

Both boys looked at each other in blank surprise. 

‘T found it,” said Rollo, “on the floor of the grotto, 
just as I entered, and this is the first chance I’ve had to 
examine it. I shouted back, Ve are safe,’ because this 
convinced me that others had been here before us.” 

“And that reminds me,” added Russell. “I have no- 
ticed that Spunyarn listens very closely whenever Bar- 
ney speaks, and watches him when he thinks he is not 
observed. It just occurred to me last evening that Spun- 
yarn might have been one of the Chinese mutineers on 
the smuggler. I don’t think, however, Barney would 
have engaged him, if he knew he belonged to that cut- 
throat gang. So I watched him last night, and when we 
were eating supper, I noticed that neither the China- 
man or the bullock catcher ate very much. That aroused 
my suspicions. Well, the wild dog luau accounts for 
that. But I made a casual remark to Barney in which I 
uttered the name Fay Van. Instantly I saw Spunyarn 
prick up his ears and look sharply at me and Barney, 
and then slipped back into the darkness of the cave. 

“That accounts, I believe, for the presence of the hand- 
kerchief,” said Rollo. “Don’t you remember, when 
Boomguy shouted to us this morning, ‘Back to cave,’ he 
added ‘Little hole in rock.’ Spunyarn knew of this hole 
too, and when he heard you say Fay Yan, he thrust the 
kerchief through it with a long stick, to dispossess him- 
self of a telltale article which might lead him to the gal- 
lows. I’m not going to show it to anyone, not even to 
Barney. It may bring trouble and quarrels, though we 
know not Low. Here comes Uncle and the Professor. 
They have found no egress 3^et.” 

Returning to the lower grotto, they found to their 


80 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

astonishment a well cooked breakfast of steaks, chops, 
hot coffee and biscuits. 

“How did you ever do this without fuel or fire?” 
did defile themselves, seizing it by fire and sword and 
asked Rollo. 

“Pele give plenty fire,” returned Spunyarn, pointing 
down toward the hot lava. 

“That’s putting the volcano to some good use, any- 
way,” remarked the Professor. “The Hawaiians on the 
southern slope of Mauna Loa quite frequently use the 
steam cracks and hot caves for culinary purposes. They 
also dig holes in the hot sulphur banks of Kilauea, and 
put in the family’s baking, wrapped in banana and ti 
leaves. I am sure there is a crevice somewhere in the 
roof of this grotto, where the hot air escapes, or the 
heat would have driven us out, or the gases asphyxiated 
us long ago.” 

“Thank Providence for that!” cried Russell. “I don’t 
like these infernal regions any too well ; where we are lia- 
ble to meet Madame Pele at any moment, with all her 
barb-tailed, dbven-footed fire demons.” 

Breakfast over, they recommenced the search for an 
egress, or for some vertical blowhole, out of which they 
might crawl like prairie dogs or chimney sweeps. But 
every lateral branch of the main shaft ended in a cul- 
de-sac. In some places this shaft was twenty to thirty 
feet high; in others the volcanic debris nearly choked 
the passage. They stumbled over stalagmites occasion- 
ally, that protruded from the pa-hoe-hoe under them. 

“How are these stalagmites formed, professor,” asked 
Rollo; “are they a product of the volcano?” 

“No. They are the result of dripping water in past 
ages. Look ! the roof is studded with fantastically shaped 
stalactites. They hang like black and red icicles. It is 
the mineral charged water dripping from them, that 
forms the stalagmites.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


81 


'Til shy a donnick at one of thim Pele’s ' toothpicks,” 
said Barney. 

"There, you’ve dislodged it. But, uncle, the crystals 
in the cleavage sparkle like diamonds. Why! there’s a 
beautiful moss agate in its core, as sure as Spunyarn is 
a Chinee.” 

"Very likely,” said the Professor. "Lava rocks are 
full of silicate minerals, and various oxides, and moss 
agate is the result of water percolating through them. If 
we are detained in here very long, we can gather a bar- 
rel full of them.” 

"Light ahead; there she blows!” shouted Boomguy. 

"Yes, and oh! joy! it’s daylight, not volcano light,” 
cried Russell, who longed for sunshine, as the ship- 
wrecked sailor does for green fields and running brooks. 

A few moments later they entered a high chamber, 
nearly round, some twelve fathoms in diameter. A cry 
of astonishment burst from the lips of all. The whole 
rotunda was flooded with light. Sixty feet above them 
was a vaulted roof of pa-hoe-hoe. But the strange feat- 
ures of the spacious grotto were the avenues by which 
the pencil-like sunbeams bored into the darkness of the 
tunnels. In the roof of rock were scores of round holes, 
from six inches to two feet in diameter. They appeared 
like circular chimneys, running up perpendicularly to the 
surface of the mountainside, and nearly as smooth as the 
bore of a cannon. 

How this formation had been produced by volcanic 
action was a cause of wonderment to all. Even Profes- 
sor Alexis acknowledged his inability to unravel the mys- 
tery. The sides of the grotto were perpendicular and 
smooth. At one corner indeed there was a slight slant, 
but so glassy was the pa-hoe-hoe. that not even a mon- 
kev could have scaled it. 

"A lizard could hardly climb these walls,” cried Rus- 


82 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

sell. ^‘But why not cut footsteps in the slanting corner 
and reach the roof that way?” 

“But don’t you notice,” returned Rollo, “that the chim- 
ney holes in that corner are all too narrow to admit a 
man’s shoulders? If you reach the roof, you must needs 
be a jackrabbit or a fox to crawl through.” 

“Him big pepper-box for Kanaka Joss, Pele,” ejacu- 
lated Spunyarn. “She muchee eatee hot stuff! pukee 
big fire clackers ; smokee too much sulphur medicine ; 
get plenty sick inside.” 

“More likely she’s used this for a rapid fire Maxim 
gun,” suggested Russell. “There seems to be no end 
to the variety in her fireworks.” 

The professor laughed and added, “I agree with Spun- 
yarn. It certainly looks like the interior of a big spice 
box. At any rate, we’ll call it that.” 

Opposite to each other were two more dark tunnels. 
Into the one on the left Boomguy led the party, first 
making an arrow at its entrance, with a fragment of 
pumice stone. 

“That,” said Professor Alexis, “is to guide us on our 
return, or to direct any rescue party who may follow us 
through this labyrinth of underground shafts. The 
whole mountain and tablelands are honeycombed with 
catacombs of this character.” 

“And where the lava has run once before, it is very 
likely to come surging again,” added Russell. “A stream 
of white hot pa-hoe-hoe perambulating through here 
would make things very interesting for us. But hark I 
I hear a running noise. Great Heavens! It’s after us 
already !” 

“Waterfall!” exclaimed Boomguy; “deep pool; then 
suck under rocks.” 

A hundred yards further brought them into a secon:: 
grotto of the same size as the spice-box. This, however, 
was filled with black darkness. 


A Tlirilling Tale of the Tropics 


83 


^‘Boomguy was right,” said their uncle. “He can read 
distant sounds like an open book. And do you notice,” 
he continued, after immersing his hand in the pool, 
“there are two streams which plunge down from those 
black openings high up in the rock? They unite to form 
the waterfall.” 

“Yes, one of them is steaming hot and tinted purple,” 
returned Russell ; “the other is icy cold. I suppose both 
come from the melting snows on Mauna Loa’s summit. 
But why so steamy and sulphury?” 

“Him water from Kanaka Joss Pele kitchen,” ex- 
plained Spunyarn. 

“Nothing easier to account for,” added the professor. 
“It comes from some hot spring deep in the heart of the 
mountain, or has become tangled up somewhere with the 
lava flow.” 

“Hurrah !” shouted Barney. “By the howly saints, 
here’s a swate bit of a kaynoo, chopped hollow out of the 
trunk of a tree.” 

“And some koa wood calabashes, stone poi pestles, 
and o-os or blubber spades (a long handled chisel used 
by whalers and prized by the Hawaiians as a garden 
tool). This is evidently an old time resort of Kanakas 
who came to sport in this underground lake. Boomguy, 
can we paddle out by the same avenue as they came in ?” 
asked the Professor. 

“More than hundred years bygone,” said the bullock 
catcher impressively, and then added mournfully, shak- 
ing his head, “Waa (canoe) stay here.” 

“How do you know that?” demanded Mr. Hadley. 

“See here,” he replied, picking up an instrument like 
a stiletto and passing it around. 

“I believe he is right,” said Professor Alexis. “Boys, 
notice this is a dirk, fashioned by laborious beating from 
a ship’s spike. Now, when Hawaii was first discovered 
(1778), the early navigators, Cook and Vancouver, had 


84 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


little to barter but nails and hoop iron. But these were 
more valuable to the Hawaiians than gold or diamonds. 
A marline spike would buy a whole canoeload of pigs 
and yams. Some time after came traders for sandal- 
wood, and before long, all the natives were supplied with 
civilized tools, like knives, hatchets and adzes, where- 
upon the hoopiron and nail makeshifts, spearheads, dirks, 
gimlets, etc., became valueless save as relics and curi- 
osities.” 

“Oh ! Golly ! lookee topside big hole in rock !” broke in 
Spunyarn. “He chuckfull whitee bones, skullee, cala- 
bashes; here Kanaka heap muchee kickee bucket.” 

“That’s so,” exclaimed the Professor. “Boys, this is 
a valuable find indeed.”^ Then after all hands had assisted 
him in removing , several bundles and a number of cal- 
abashes of human remains, from a deep niche hewn in 
the rock, he added: “Yes, and in this tomb are many 
bleached bones and skeletons of men and women. High 
Chiefs and Chiefesses, no doubt. No common Kanakas 
were accorded such honors. Probably here lie the re- 
mains of Umi, the most renowned King of Old Hawaii, 
who centuries ago built the Great Temple (Heiau Nui) 
on these very tablelands. Here are several niho palaoa 
(whale’s tooth necklaces, braided with human hair, the 
exclusive insignia of royalty). But what is that in the 
dark corner, surrounded by curtains of kapa (native 
bark cloth) ?” 

“It seems to be arranged like the interior of a native 
house,” returned Mr. Hadley, after examining the in- 
terior with his sardine can torch. “Luxurious mats of 
pandanus leaves, piled high into divans, — red kahilis 
(feather standards), — ancient spears, — shark’s-tooth 
swords. — helmets and armor of wicker work, it’s a gen- 
uine treasure-house of antiquities.” 

Tlie whole party crowded behind the figured kapa tap- 


A Tlirilling Tale of the Tropics 85 

estries, eager to examine these interesting relics of a by- 
gone age. 

‘‘Oh-h-h !” cried Rollo, almost beside himself with 
excitement. “Isn’t this a royal feather mantle (ahu- 
manu), hanging here like a toga of reddish yellow gold?” 

“Yes, indeed,” answered Professor Alexis in a tone of 
voice that showed an equal eagerness, “for all the world, 
a duplicate of Ka-meha-meha’s mantle, now in the Bishop 
museum at Honolulu, valued at a million dollars ! Ah ! 
look at that row of white skulls, grinning at us from yon 
shelf in the rock. There are the brave old kings who 
wore this sumptuous garment.” 

“And did the ancient Kanakas fill their teeth with 
gold?” asked Russell, reaching up for one of the cran- 
iums and displaying several molars of the lower jaw 
filled with shining metal. 

“And here is a brass belt buckle, marked H. M. Fri- 
gate Discovery” Rollo added. “Was not that the name 
of the flagship of Captain Cook’s squadron?” 

“Quite right, lads,” returned the Professor, with ill 
suppressed excitement. “It is possible; yes, quite prob- 
able, that we have been providentially led to the very 
spot where lie concealed the remains of the Ancient 
Kings of Hawaii, for which the Dynasty of the Ka-meha- 
mehas searched for more than seventy-five years. It was 
with the hope of eventually discovering them that the 
superb Royal Mausoleum was built at Honolulu. And, 
quite as important, this gold filling and officer’s belt 
buckle point directly to the body of Captain Cook, the 
great discoverer and first known navigator of the Pacific 
Ocean. He was killed by mistake at Ke-ala-ke-kua Bay, 
forty miles from here, in a sudden altercation with the 
natives. By the Hawaiians he was revered and wor- 
shipped as a god. They saw in him their deity Lono, 
returning from Tahiti, after an absence of two hundred 
years. They mourned his premature death, and care- 


86 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


fully concealed his bones with those of their Kings. 
Only a part of the body was recovered. The British 
Government has offered a reward for the complete recov- 
ery of Captain Cook’s remains. What have you there, 
Barney ?” 

“An ossifer’s coat, sir. It’s aten up it is, bedad, wid 
the mould and moths, but the yellow gowld lace and the 
epaulettes tell no fibs.” 

“And here’s a little scrap of paper, — leaf torn from a 
note book, yellow with age, crumpled in the pocket,” 
added Mr. Hadley. 

As they all crowded eagerly around this new object 
of interest. Professor Alexis read the few words, dimly 
penciled on it, — evidently in haste. 

“Lieutenant Gore: Send the jolly boat ashore at once, 
well manned and armed. O-wyhees are ugly; — deny 
theft of boat. Don’t hesitate to fire the bow-guns if 
savages attack us. I have got Tarreaboo prisoner, and 
will bring him on board as hostage. Cook.” 

“These few words,” remarked Professor Alexis im- 
pressively, “go to clear up a controversy over which the 
historians of the Pacific Ocean have wrangled for 125 
years. The point of dispute has been, ‘Was Captain 
Cook the aggressor in the quarrel that cost him his life?’ 
In this little scrap we have the great navigator’s confes- 
sion over his ozvn signature” 

“Who was Tarreaboo?” asked Rollo, and Russell 
added, “I had the impression that the Owyhees, as he 
calls the Kanakas, simply overwhelmed him with gifts, 
hospitality and veneration.” 

“So they did. They had already made him presents 
that aggregated fifty times the value of the stolen boat, 
in canoe loads of pigs, fish, taro, etc. ; among others six 
feather mantles like this one. Tarreaboo is the nearest 
these illiterate men could come to the name of Hawaii’s 


87 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

reigning King, Ka-lani-o-pun. He was very old, infirm, 
of kindly disposition, beloved by his people. He knew 
nothing of the boat’s disappearance. It had been spirited 
away by fishermen, and pulled to pieces for the nails. 
For the theft of the boat Cook put a blockade that morn- 
ing on the Bay. Only a few minutes before this note 
was written, the marines in his scout-boat had shot and 
killed Palea, a high chief, who entered the harbor inno- 
cently in his canoe, unaware of the blockade. Cook was 
killed at the edge of the water, on the sea-beach, while 
coaxing the old King to go aboard the Discovery with 
him. It was a friend of Palea’s just coming from the 
scene of the chief’s murder who stabbed the great navi- 
gator.” 

“And did the British retaliate?” asked Mr. Hadley. 

“Yes, with vengeance. Captain Clark, second in com- 
mand, bombarded the village of Napoo-poo, burning and 
destroying it, and in the subsequent affray, between 50 
and 100 innocent men, women and children were killed. 
Finally, however, a truce was patched up by Lieutenant 
King, the natives came off in canoes to trade again, and 
Kalaniopuu even made them additional presents. When 
the ships finally left, the natives appeared to have for- 
given the white men for their terrible crimes. My opin- 
ion of Captain Cook is that, although a great navigator 
and brave naval officer, yet he had little regard for the 
sacredness of human life, was sensual and conscienceless. 
He carried away many of the idols from the heiau, appro- 
priated the fence of the temple for firewood, and allowed 
his sailors and officers to entice many of the wives and 
daughters of the natives away, on the frigates, taking 
some of them to sea with them. Lieutenant King, the 
historian accompanying the squadron, eulogizes the 
navigator and attempts to apologize for him, but reveals 
many incidents which lead us to believe that most of the 


88 Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 

white men of the squadron were as bad morally as the 
savages whom they met/' 

At this moment there was a sharp tremor of the earth, 
and the whole party rushed to the center of the grotto. 

“For heaven’s sake, can’t we escape by means of the 
canoe?” said Russell with trepidation. 

“The only exit is by the tunnel under the pool,” re- 
turned Rollo. “All we need is a submarine boat with” — 

Suddenly the whole party was thrown to the floor of 
the grotto by a most energetic shock of earthquake. At 
the same moment a large boulder detached itself from the 
roof and plunged into the purple waters. 

“Boys,” said the Professor, with marvelous self-pos- 
session, “don’t mind these little shakes of Mauna Loa. 
They are seldom dangerous after the lava commences to 
flow. Now let us explore the shaft at the further side 
of the pepper-box.” 

They retraced their steps, and after following the new 
shaft several hundred yards, Rollo cried joyously, — 

“Sunlight ahead and clear sky! This time we reach 
the open mountainside.” 

“Yes,” said Russell, “but what does this blast of hot 
air mean, and the vile odors of burning brimstone? 
Hark ! there’s the roar of a cataract.” 


A Thrilliug Tale of the Tropics 


89 


CHAPTER IX. 

Their Old Friend, the Lava Flow, Bobs up Serenely. — A 
Strange Crater and its Lurking Dangers. — Boomguy Makes 
a Desperate Dash over the Hot Crest. — They Fortify the Tunnel 
with Pele’s Own Materials. — Rollo and Russell Follow the 
Ghost of Old King Umi. — The Strange Cylinder of Opium. — 
They Swim the Waterfall and Find the Bottomless Pit. 

N a few minutes they emerged into the 
full blaze of the midday sun. A cry of 
wonder and dismay fell from the lips 
of each member of the party. They 
were standing on a wide ledge of rock, 
jutting into a crater of oval shape, a 
hundred yards or more in length. It 
was surrounded by sheer precipices. 
Above them was a perpendicular wall 
of fifty feet, and at the same distance 
below careened along their old and 
ubiquitous friend, the lan/a Hozv. In 
a huge reddish white tide it was issu- 
ing from a yawning cavern at the op- 
posite end, and after a sheer plunge of ten fathoms, it 
eddied and swirled around the chasm like a boiling lake 
of blood, then disappeared into a hungry, ugly looking 
circular rent in the wall to the right, below where they 
stood. They gazed spellbound at the gory avalanche, 
heaving and dashing against the cliff with hideous con- 
tortions. A black crust formed occasionally near the 
edges. This broke with sharp detonations, as the tor- 
rent ebbed and flowed around the crater. The resulting 
slabs were tossed over each other like cakes of ice in the 
gorge of a spring freshet. They plunged into the red- 



90 


Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 


mouthed egress with a grating roar that sounded like the 
gnashing teeth of a regiment of demons. 

‘‘My dear friends,” said Professor Alexis, with an 
impressive self possession, “it is evident that for the pres- 
ent our retreat is cut off. But let us face the situation 
with calmness. We were saved from a terrible death 
this morning, as by a miracle; we have provisions suffi- 
cient for weeks, and plenty of good water. Let us com- 
mit ourselves to the will of Heaven, and not murmur 
against the providences of an allwise and loving Heavenly 
Father.” 

“We will do our parts,” cried Rollo and Russell, almost 
in the same breath. 

“Lookee fire river!” exclaimed Spunyarn, “him stoppee 
run out.” 

They rushed to the edge and gazed down. Sure 
enough, the chasm of the egress was no longer visible. 
The surface of the lava was now calm. There could be 
no mistaking these phenomena. The slabs and rolling 
boulders had choked up the crate/ s outlet! 

“Unless some miracle takes place,” groaned Russell, 
sinking to his knees, “in an hour the white hot metal will 
pour into our tunnel and then !” — 

“Don’t lose your heads, lads,” answered the Profes- 
sor, “there are chances yet for us. The lava stream 
above us may overflow and break away, as it did last 
night ; the slabs in the egress may melt, and the boulders 
tear through the obstructions.” 

An hour of intense anxiety passed. They gazed almost 
hopelessly as the lake rose, inch by inch, and foot by foot. 

It was a desperate vigil. They determined to meet their 
fate in the sunshine, rather than be trapped like rats by 
the fire’s invasion of the tunnel. 

Suddenly Boomguy broke out, “You see big ohia tree, 
grow in pali rock over there. Bimeby crust get black; 


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They discover the skull of Captain Cook, and priceless antiquities of Old Hawaii. “These g-old filled 
teeth, and the penciled note in the coat pocket,” said the professor, “point directly to Authentic rern.nins of 
the Great Discover and navigator of the Pacific, Killed at Kona, 130 years ago.” 




A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 91 

he come up two fathom more; we make big run on pa- 
hoe-Fioe — shin up tree.” 

“He’s right!” cried the Professor. “In an hour the 
crust will be two feet thick. We can make a dash across 
it, lasso the ohia tree and climb to it, lasso the next tree, 
and from that swing pendulum style to the rim.” 

“But our shoes and feet will be burned off in a twink- 
ling,” said Rollo. 

“No; me tie up you all foots in plenty big piece of 
cowskin,” put in Spunyarn. This suggestion was acted 
upon. By the time that Spunyarn returned with the 
green cowhide, the lake’s surface was only ten feet below 
the ledge. The heat in the crater was stifling. It was 
decided that the bullock catcher should make the first 
run. Spunyarn wound his feet in woolen shirts, then 
wrapped them in rawhide bags. 

“Shure, an’ they look like an illigant pair of cannon- 
swabs,” remarked Barney. 

Boomguy was lowered by a rope, and started on a brisk 
run across the scorching crust. 

“It is the bravest deed I ever saw a human being under- 
take,” whispered Mr. Hadley. “If he perishes, he dies 
to save his fellowmen, and what greater heroism could 
there be ?” 

Suddenly there was a crash as of splitting rocks and a 
huge crack opened across the lake center. Boomguy 
turned instantly and dashed back. Before he reached the 
starting point again, however, the whole surface of the 
lake was heaving and cracking, and he was compelled 
to leap several fissures before Barney launched his lariat 
over him, and he was hoisted from his perilous position. ' 
Soon the black ice had burst into hundreds of fragments, 
and these, with a continuous groan of grating rocks, were 
sucked into a whirlpool that formed near the ledge. 
Though much relieved by the retreat of the lava, yet all 
were disappointed at the failure of Boomguy’s dash for 


92 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

liberty. That accomplished, he would soon have hoisted 
them, one by one, to the rim of the cliff sixty feet above 
them. 

Every minute now the liquid rock appeared to become 
whiter and hotter, until it heaved and boiled like a caldron 
of milk. So intense became the heat, that the eddies melted 
the foot of the cliffs and dug caverns beneath them. 
One jutting precipice fell into the- lake with a terrific 
crash, forming an island of crystal shaped boulders. 

“You can now see,” said the Professor, “how these 
smaller craters are formed. They are frequently found 
on the flanks of Mauna Loa. Notice how dense the white 
lava is. The rocks that fall into it from the cliffs, are 
so light in comparison that some of them are whirled 
away like logs on a torrent. Even some of the big 
boulders will almost float. There go a few of them, — 
huge and heavy, — over the rocky bed of the flow. You 
cannot see them, but they jar the very cliffs around us 
with their concussions, — Bump ! Bump ! Bumpety ! Crash ! 
In a few hours this little island will be melted away. 
Merciful heavens ! the tide comes on still hotter and 
whiter than before.” 

So terrific had the heat now become that they were 
forced back with smoking clothes into the tunnel. 

“Here, com.rades !” exclaimed Rollo. “Why not ob- 
struct this tunnel with a dyke of lava slabs, thrown 
across at the narrowest point? If the hot boulders choke 
up the shaft down there, we can certainly wall up this 
one with cold slabs !” 

“A capital idea !” returned Professor Alexis. “If the 
lava is delayed long enough, while invading the shaft, it 
will gradually harden into a solid cork of rock.” 

They now proceeded to collect slabs through the tun- 
nels, and erected a barricade of her own fabrics, against 
the fire forces of the Goddess Pele. This dyke assumed 
the shape of an hour-glass, in whose neck they placed a 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


93 


wedge shaped boulder, like the keystone of an arch. 
This they could remove from time to time, as they 
emerged to play spy on the maneuvres in the enemy's 
camp. As Barney had some experience in stone masonry, 
he took great pride in its superintendence. 

“That’s a clever piece of fortification,” remarked Mr. 
Hadley. 

Imagining a mystified look on the Irishman’s face, he 
added, “Perhaps you don’t understand the application of 
the word.” 

“Indade I do, zur, an’ shure a fortification is nothing 
intirely but two twentyfications.” 

That night they brought mats from the grotto of the 
Kings, as Professor Alexis styled it, and camped on 
them in a recess of the pepper-box cavern, lulled to sleep 
by the dull roar of the lava fall on one side, and the 
lighter music of the waterfall on the other. Rollo and 
Russell slept apart from the others and could converse 
in low tones without disturbing their companions. About 
midnight Russell nudged his comrade. 

“Rollo, do you believe in ghosts ?” 

“No, I have no faith whatever in their existence, nor 
in folks that believe in them.” 

“Well, I have ; and I believe we have the genuine 
article right in our midst, within the limits of these tun- 
nels; and it jars me a little mentally.” 

“Nonsense, Russell; we have explored every niche 
and cranny, and we are beyond any peradventure the 
sole occupants. You may have a hallucination, of course, 
and imagine you have seen a ghost. I never was sure 
there was not something the matter with your mental 


jar. 

“But my imagination don’t find a ten-pound can of 
opium, and peel ofif a label like this, does it ?” And Rus- 
sell pulled a slip of dark colored paper from his pocket 
and struck a match. 


94- Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 

''That's certainly genuine enough,” returned Rollo. 

“And my hallucinations don’t carry off the can after I 
have hidden it in a dark crevice and marked the spot with 
a piece of pumice stone.” 

“Are you sure it was not Spunyarn?” 

“Yes; for I carried the very slab I found it under ‘to 
the dyke and counted you all ; — not a soul missing. Then 
when I returned at once thal^ niche was empty." 

“Very uncanny, certainly; how do you account for it? 
that is, why should such a strange thing as a single can 
of opium find its way to this inaccessible place, and how 
could it vanish without hands?” 

“The ghost theory is the only possible explanation, — 
and — hist! Oh I Jehosaphat! Rollo, here he comes now; 
look! that dark object stealing noiselessly through the 
murky shadows under that opposite wall. Now he stops 
and surveys our camp ; — he moves on, — enters the tun- 
nel leading to the waterfall. I’m all in a cold perspira- 
tion ; — my teeth are chattering !” 

“That must be the spirit of one of the kings of 
Hawaii,” said Rollo, coolly. “As he passed under that 
farthest chimney, I got a good look at him ; — short spear 
in his hand, — wore a wicker helmet, a whales’ tooth neck- 
lace, and no other garment than a simple malo. Let us 
follow him and make his acquaintance. Say, Russell, 
this lark is certainly getting very interesting. Don’t say 
a word to the others about this, but watch Barney and 
Spunyarn. Take my word for it, those two fellows are 
playing a deep game of cross purposes. It will come to 
the surface all the sooner if we keep mum.” 

The next day they devoted themselves to the care of 
their provisions. Descending into the cavern invaded by 
the lava flow, after the guide’s tragic death, they found 
it had covered the floor to the depth of two fathoms, and 
was slowly changing to rock. Following the bullock 
catcher's instructions they cut a large part of the meat 


95 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

of the cow into long strips. These Boomguy and Spun- 
yarn hung on manilla ropes across the cave, and after 
two days exposure to the dry heat ,of the air above the 
lava, they pronounced it perfectly cured tasajo. This 
they stored away in a hollow of the rock under the cold 
waterfall. This rock answered as a refrigerator for the 
whole commissary. The balance of the fresh meat, after 
curing with salt, was hung in a small cave and smoked 
with a fire of chips from a log found near the waterfall. 

“No better smokehouse could be imagined,” said their 
uncle ; “how true it is that necessity is the mother of in- 
vention.” 

It was very amusing to see the ingenuity with which 
the Kanaka and Chinaman applied the volcano forces to 
purposes of utility and comfort. At each meal they boiled 
coffee or cocoa in a pot set in a hole in the hot pa-hoe-hoe. 
For a soup or a stew they used an iron kettle found near 
the canoe. In this they placed the meats, vegetables and 
water ; then inserting fragments of hot lava, wrapped the 
kettle quickly in blankets and left it to simmer for hours. 
For an oven they made use of a little pit in the old lava, 
about three feet deep. In this they laid a hot lava slab, 
covered with a cold one, and on the latter set meats, 
dough for biscuits, shrimps, taro, sweet potatoes and 
yams. This they covered with a flat rock, banked with a 
little heap of dry sand. It answered to the famous Poly- 
nesian underground oven (imu), which both bakes and 
steams its victuals and imparts to them a delicious flavor. 

For quick action they lowered the kettle or their steaks 
to the hot lava crusts in the crater. The whole party was 
unanimous that they had never fared so well in any prev- 
ious camp life. Every day they were led by Boomguy 
into the water pool, where the younger members dove 
and swam to their heart’s content. The Kanaka would 
exhibit his aquatic skill by taking weights in his hands. 


96 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


and walking around the bottom in ten feet of water 
for several minutes. 

In fact, were it not for the constant dread of an inrup- 
tion by the volcano river, they would have enjoyed the 
adventure with zest. 

“If we only had a telegraph to notify us of a sudden 
rise in the crater, we would not be in such continual 
trepidation,” said Russell. 

“I makee teleglap !” exclaimed Spunyarn with much 
self confidence. “You savey quick lava come pii mai.” 

“How can you do that without wire, electricity or even 
a cord,” asked Rollo. 

“You givee cowhide, I makee Pele telephone. You 
•vake up quick, like gun go bang!’’ 

“All right, Spunyarn,” said the Professor, laughing; 
“and while you are about it, light the tunnels with elec- 
tricity, and put up an elevator that will take us to the 
roof garden of the pepper-box.” 

' The cowhide had already been stretched by the' cor- 
ners, and Boomguy had dried it by exposure to the heat 
in the lower cavern. After whetting his sheath-knife on 
the a-a, Spunyarn cut it continuously round and round 
into a thong several hundred yards in length. This he 
stretched taut through the tunnel, suspended by raw hide 
loops to the stalactites, and weighted each end with a 
lava slab. One of these hung over the edge of the crater, 
and both were so balanced that when the lava rose to the 
danger point, the other slab would fall with a clatter in 
the pepper-box. 

“Now makee big candle, walkee plenty light in dark 
tunnel,” continued Spunyarn. They followed him into 
the lower cavern, with great curiosity as to this new piece 
of ingenuity, and found he had saved the tallow from 
the cow, and after melting, stored it in calabashes. With 
Boomguy’s aid he .cut'’ and twisted a number of long 
wicks from a piece of native bark cloth (kapa), strength- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


97 


ened by cocoanut. sinnet. Then he ran the ends of a 
wick through holes in two corks, knotted them and 
rammed each into the bores of Russell’s shot gun. This 
apparatus he took to the waterfall, where he filled both 
barrels with melted tallow, and corked the muzzles ; then 
thrust the gun, first into the icy cataract for a few min- 
utes, then into the hot waterfall for a few seconds. The 
Chinaman now drew out two long and perfect candles 
and exhibited them triumphantly. 

‘‘Hurrah for the Chinee !” cried Rollo, with enthusiasm 
and added, “What on earth do we need besides present 
accommodations in these apartments ? Here we have steam 
heat, hot and cold running water, all modern conven- 
iences, Turkish and sulphur baths — ” 

“And a diet of porterhouse steaks and deviled 
shrimps,” added Russell. 

“Free house-rent, fireworks and a continuous vaude- 
ville of Fourth of July,” chimed in his uncle. 

“And absolute protection from the sheriff,” put in the 
Professor; “lords of all we survey, enjoying a warm 
reception and the fervid hospitalities of Madame Pele 
on every side.” 

“To change the subject,” said Rollo, “have you noticed 
a faint glimmer of light in the water, where that icy 
stream enters the grotto? I noticed it about eight o’clock 
in the morning. It only lasted a few minutes.” 

“Indeed! We’ll have Boomguy investigate it in the 
morning. That indicates a slanting shaft, branching off 
from the water tunnel, through which the sun’s rays 
penetrate to the waterfall.” 

At exactly eight the following day they saw the rosy 
gleam of rubies sparkling at the top of the cold water 
cascade. 

In an instant the bullock catcher had stripped for a 
plunge, and coiled a lasso around his shoulders. Then 
he scaled the rocks and forced himself against the cur- 


98 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

rent through the entrance, on his hands and knees. In 
a few minutes they saw the noose of the riata shoot the 
waterfall into. the pool. Spunyarn seized it, mounted 
the rocks, and in a trice was drawn into the icy water. 
The noose appeared again. 

“It’s just like crawling through a rat hole,” exclaimed 
Rollo. 

“More like diving through the bunghole into a hogs- 
head of water,” returned Russell. 

The boys stripped off their heavy clothing, and drawing 
long breaths, were drawn through the long narrow shaft 
by Boomguy’s brawny muscles at the other end of the 
lasso. 

“I’m half drowned by the water I swallowed,” gasped 
Russell. “It reminded me of being shot through a twen- 
ty-foot columbiad.” 

The rest soon followed. A few steps further, and 
they emerged into the brilliant light of the sun. They 
were looking from the mouth of the cavern. 

“Merciful heavens!” exclaimed the Professor, starting 
back; “is this the door of the Bottomless Pit?” 

They crawled on hands and knees to the edge of a 
round black chasm, about a hundred feet across, and 
gazed downward with horror and dismay. As far down 
as the eye could reach was a perpendicular chimney, 
growing wider rather than narrower as it descended. 

“I can see down a thousand feet and still no bottom,” 
muttered Rollo, shuddering. “The heated air coming up 
has got the same old villainous volcano stench. If we 
only had a plumb line a mile long 1” 

Here Spunyarn rolled up a rock as large as he could 
handle. The boulder crashed over the edge, descending 
like a shot; then bounded from side to side. In a few 
moments it became too small to be visible, but they could 
still hear it THUMP! BUMP! — Bumpety-bump! 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 99, 

thump! bum-p — thu-m-p — th- !-! — ! — ! Professor Alexis 
was counting the seconds by his watch. 

“It’s gone plumb through the earth, and hit the under 
side of Timbuctoo, Pll betV’ cried Russell. 

“Fifteen hundred feet at least,” said the Professor 
quietly, figuring out the problem on a leaf of his note- 
book. 

“Ha! Big smoke come up!” exclaimed Spunyarn; 
“hittee fat cross-eyed dlagon, Bom — Bom — topside cocoa- 
nut. Now smell him swear — cuss — gong! dong! r-r-r — ! 

“The sulphurous mist started up by that boulder shows 
that things in general are very much 'alive down there,” 
continued the Professor. “Boys, we are now in the neck 
of one of the great cone chimneys that are frequently 
found around Mauna Loa. The throat of this one seems to 
reach into the very bowels of the earth. I see no chance 
of our escape here either. The chimney walls above us 
are too smooth even for a monkey to scale.” 

“Pele has balked us again,” muttered Boomguy in 
Kanaka. “She still hungers for more victims.” 


100 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


CHAPTER X. 

The Ghost Mystery Deepens. — Here is $160,000 Worth of 
Opium! — Another Dove Letter from the Princess. — I Hear a 
Murmur of Voices. — Ready for a Desperate Fight in the 
Dark. — The Shock Drives Russell into Hysterics. — The Smug- 
gled Opium Disappears. — That Pepper-box Mystery Clears up. 

VERY day the mystery of the ghost 
deepened, and Rollo and Russell were 
more and more puzzled by the events that 
transpired in connection with him. Hard- 
ly a night passed that the apparition did 
not flit noiselessly through the shadows 
of the pepper-box. Sometimes they saw the shadow 
returning from the waterfall, and imagined that he car- 
ried a long-necked gourd water-bottle. Whenever they 
started to follow, he disappeared instantly. Every day 
they spent hours in exploring the tunnels, examining the 
niches and crevices, and sounding the walls with a 
hatchet, in hopes of discovering the secret of his hiding 
place. Not a trace of the apparition or any clew to the 
mystery, could be found. One night Rollo nudged Rus- 
sell quietly. 

“There’s the spirit of the great King Umi, flitting 
through again. I move we follow him again ; this 
time separately, each with a torch, and discover his hid- 
ing place or break a leg.” 

“Agreed,” said Russell, “but let us take our pistols. 
They will give us more courage.” 

They rose noiselessly and swiftly followed the shadow 
into the tunnel leading to the lower cavern. The candle 
was lit and Rollo exclaimed: “There he is just in front, 
only a few rods distant. He is looking squarely at us. 
Notice he holds a candle that looks exactly like ours, 



A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 101 

111 wager he helped himself to one of Spunyarn’s 
make.” 

They beckoned to the apparition, and saluted with 
the most kindly Hawaiian they knew , — Aloha oe (Love 
to you). 

It was of no avail. When they turned the corner 
around which he disappeared, nothing remained of either 
ghost or candle. They searched carefully through the 
lower cavern, but the wraith of Umi had vanished into 
thin air. 

As they returned, they entered one of the short lateral 
shafts, and sat down to a council of war, on a large boul- 
der of pa-hoe-hoe. 

“Isn’t it exasperating!” said Rusell, striking the rock 
with his hatchet to emphasize his disgust. “Hello ! this 
rock is hollow! If we had a crowbar we could capsize 
it easily. Let us try anyway.” 

To their surprise the big rock yielded to their com- 
bined efforts, and they laid it onto its convex back. It 
was only a hollow shell like the back of a turtle. 

“And is this the hiding place of the ghost?” said Rus- 
sell as he gazed down into a dark cavity. 

“No,” returned Rollo; “he disappeared much further 
down; follow me; we may soon reach the open moun- 
tain side.” 

But again they were doomed to disappointment. The 
little cavern they entered had no further egress. 

“Great whales and little fishes !” cried Russell. “Here 
is the opium r 

“Sure enough, the opium T echoed Rollo, casting his 
eyes hastily over a pile of cylindrical cases, stacked up 
like cans of salmon; “ten long, ten wide, and eight 
high. Ten pounds to a box makes each worth $200, 
total value $160,000. There are eight hundred boxes!” 

“Oh! Rollo, that's a fortune for us, 'is it not? It pays 
for some of our risk and terrible experiences.” 


102 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


“It’s a fortunate find and no question,” returned Rol- 
lo, “but in the first place, opium is a contraband article. 
Having been smuggled into United States territory, it 
is liable to confiscation, and if in attempting to dispose 
of it, the authorities should discover us, we would be 
branded as criminals for the rest of our lives. In the 
next place I believe there are one or two others in these 
tunnels who know of its whereabouts, already, and 
would jump for a chance to get the Governor’s reward.” 

“That’s just a random guess, Rollo.” 

“I know it is ; but I’ve kept my eyes open. Just as 
we rose up to follow the ghost, Barney and Spunyarn 
both began to snore, and snored thejouder as we flitted 
past them. That convinces me that they are both watch- 
ing us, and are perhaps in communication with this 
wraith of King Umi. Another suspicious circumstance : 
— yesterday Boomguy missed a bundle of poi, and his 
sheath-knife, and charged Spunyarn with taking them. 
Spunyarn denied it, but I heard Barney whisper to the 
bullock-catcher, ‘Yes, I took them for Mr. Hadley.’ 
Now uncle don’t eat poi, and has a fine Ixl bowie knife 
of his own.” 

“Rollo,” said Russell, with a sudden inspiration, “this 
is the fulfillment of Minelulu’s declaration, Ts not the 
pillage hidden in the tombs of the Kings, even the secret 
places of our ancestors ?’ ” 

“Why yes; to be sure! But what are those Greek 
hieroglyphics on the pa-hoe-hoe ?” and Rollo pointed to the 
characters^V^ifl^^^ written on the wall with a pumice 
pebble. Give me your pocket looking-glass. Now I 
have it ; very shrewd little dodge to call the right party’s 
attention. The word Barney is written backward.” 

Russell thrust his hand into a crevice above the word, 
and pulled out a neatly folded piece of writing paper. 

“This is sure proof that the Irishman don’t know of 
the presence of the opium. For the letter is signed, 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 103 

Minclulu. Another link in the chain of this tantalizing 
mystery. It’s written in Hawaiian.” 

“You may be very sure,” said Rollo, “that this ghost 
of Umi is a friend of Minelulu’s. And furthermore he 
is shut in by the lava flow, just as we are, or he would 
never brave detection by passing through the pepper- 
box to get water, and incidentally appropriate some of 
our provisions. I’m getting sleepy; let’s get back to our 
blankets again.” 

The next morning the boys were alone with Profes- 
sor Alexis as he was writing up his journal. Rollo 
pulled out his wallet. 

“Here are some old useless papers. I have a good 
mind, Russell, to secrete them in that crevice, to mystify 
some explorer a thousand years from now. By the way. 
Professor, here’s a bit of paper I have picked up some- 
where, with some Kanaka words on it. Would you 
kindly translate them before I throw these scraps away ?” 

“Certainly,” answered Professor Alexis; “here it is: 

“E kuu hoa aloha; auhea oe? E hele ana aku wau 
mai neia hale o na Moi Kahiko, a e hoomana i ke Akua 
oiaio ma ka pali uliuli me na kamaaina aloha o kou 
ahu-puaa ponoi. 

“Mai makau oe i ke kahuna o Wai-manu ; no ka mea, 
he kauwa kupaa oia nau. E alakai ana oia ia oe a i ka 
oawa nani o Ka Wahine o Ka-liu-la ; no ka mea, he hoa- 
pili kupaa oia na kaua. Ma ka pali e lohe auanei oe i 
na lohelohe olioli o na iiwi ; a me na mele kinikini o na 
pupu-kani-ohe. Mai hakalia oe, no ka mea, ua ao ka 
po ; eia mai hoi na kapuai nani o ka malama-lama ma na 
kuihiwi loa. E hauoli ana kaua a mau loa aku.” 

“And here is the translation : 

“My dearest friend: 

“Listen to me. I am leaving this dwelling of the kings 
of old to worship with the kindly affectioned people of 


104 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

my own principality, the dwellers in the valley of the 
Emerald Cliff. Fear not to trust yourself with the 
prophet of the valley of Songsters ; for he is a servant 
most devoted to me, and a friend of both. He will 
guide you faithfully to this beautiful Eden of The Lady 
of the Twilight. When thou comest thither, thou shalt 
hear the sweet music of the iiwi birds, arid the slivery 
love notes of the flute-voiced land shells. Hasten thee; 
for they are the harbingers of future joy. The radiant 
footsteps of coming sunbeams do gild the distant moun- 
tain tops. The night has flown, and endless happiness 
now awaits us.” 

‘That is very good poetry,” continued the Professor, 
“but it has a hidden meaning which only one initiated 
could understand.” 

“Very clever, Rollo,” said Rusell, a little later. “He 
did not once suspect that this little billet doux was writ- 
ten and found in this very cavern, nor who wrote it. I 
saw you had torn off the signature.” 

“This letter,” said Rollo, “proves that Minelulu has 
been here ; and that she has gone to Paliuli, which she 
calls the Valley of the Emerald Cliff. The next thing is 
to round up the ghost of King Umi and make him reveal 
the secret of the exit if there is any.” 

That night the apparition again flitted into the tunnel 
to the waterfall and the boys prepared for action. 

“Steal into the lower tunnel,” whispered Rollo ; “ex- 
tinguish your candle, and then light it again when you 
hear his footsteps approaching. I will follow up closely, 
and between us he certainly cannot escape.” 

But they were again foiled. Although they both sa\y 
the ghost, and he was between them this time, yet he 
took advantage of a double turn in the tunnel to disap- 
pear. When the boys met, Russell’s teeth were chatter- 
ing, so disturbed was he at the supernatural turn of 
these events. 


105 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

^‘This is a genuine ghost,” said Russell. 

“And his hiding place is within a hundred feet ot us. 
I’m going to discover it or break a limb.” 

The boys now set to work more critically than ever to 
detect a break in the wall. Finally when they were about 
to abandon the search in despair, Russell exclaimed, 
“Hark ! I hear a low murmur of voices.” 

“Gk)od !” returned Rollo. “This dark recess contains 
the opening. Knock gently with your hatchet for a hol- 
low spot. I hear the murmur now, too, when I apply my 
ear to the rock. Here’s a rough spot in the roof that 
sounds hollow; — let me stand on your shoulder. Yes; 
I’m grasping a stalactite that gives upward to the push, 
though the joints are invisible. No wonder the ghost 
evaded us, — through such a cunning contrivance.” 

In a jifify Rollo had pushed the trap upward, and enter- 
ing, reached down to assist Russell through the narrow 
aperture. They were now in a low roofed cave. 

“Do you see that light around the corner?” whispered 
Kollo. “There are some men in there talking in Hawaii- 
an; give me the revolvers and you hold the candles. We 
must avoid a scrimmage in the dark. Now follow noise- 
lessly. I can shoot with both hands if necessary. That 
voice sounds wonderfully familiar; yet I cannot remem- 
ber where I have ever heard it. I’ll knock for admit- 
tance at the opening.” 

As he tapped the rock with his revolver, Rollo saluted, 
'‘Aloha olua. We are friends.” 

But instead of the savage yell that they had anticipated, 
a jolly voice answered, “Come in, boys ; and yez are wel- 
come indade.” 

So sudden was the transition from the tension of grim 
desperation, to this friendly greeting, that Russell broke 
out into a paroxysm of hysterical laughter. 

Barney Morrisey was seated on a mat, and with him a 
swarthy companion dressed only in a loin cloth. They 


106 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


were partaking of a sociable lunch of red shrimps and poi, 
with sugar cane sangaree. 

“Be seated, ye sons of America, and commune with 
our friend Hiwa-hiwa, High Priest of Pele and Kahu 
Alii (Guardian of the Kings) ; the last of the race of 
Royal Kahunas, — descendant of Paao, the mighty prophet 
from Samoa, who first taught the people of Hawaii the 
arts of peace, and homage to the gods, many hundred 
years ago,” 

Almost stunned by this glamour of majesty which 
Barney threw around his companion, the boys sat down 
on the mat. “Ua noa ke kapu o ka halealii. E halawai 
kakou me ke aloha (the taboo of the King’s house is re- 
laxed; — let us commune in friendship), said the Kahuna 
quietly, but very impressively. 

“First of all,” said Rollo, “has this priest any knowl- 
edge of an avenue of escape from our prison ?” 

“Bedad, and that he hasn’t ; he’s a treed coon like our- 
selves. The owld way of cornin’ in here was by the crater, 
before the eruption. Now the trees and vines that made 
a ladder for thim, are burned.” 

“And when did you first meet the holy man, this priest 
of the goddess?” 

“Not more than two days gone by. But, be the pow- 
ers, the coffee colored haythen is no praste, an’ divil a bit 
of howliness do I see in the man who prays to sich imps 
of Hades ez them illigant beauties over yonder.” 

Rollo and Russell followed his uplifted finger, and 
saw for the first time a group of large wooden idols, 
most startling in their hideousness and ferocity. They 
were black with the smoke of centuries. One in particu- 
lar represented Kalai-pahoa, the poison god of Molokai. 
His eyes were formed of two candlenuts set in orbs of 
mother of pearl, at such a slant under his brows, that 
with the grimace of his mouth, his facial expression was 


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Diamond Head, a Volcano jutting- into Honolulu Bay, soon to be the Gibraltar of the Pa,ciljc Millions 
are being spent tc fortify and improve Pearl Harbor. A Surf-board and Outrigger Canoe. 



A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 107 

too uproariously comical to regard with a straight face. 
Rollo and Russell laughed until they fairly cried. 

^ Now, Barney, how did you run across this unctuous 
priest of these exquisitely beautiful deities?” 

“And faith! I runs onto him just a-heavin’ that spear 
at me, whin I remembered the pass-words in Minelulu’s 
letter, and I give wid it the name of her sailor great 
grandfather, McGregor. Just like a flash he throws away 
his spear, an’ crawlin’ up to me as if he wanted to kiss 
me fut (same ez they kiss St. Peter’s toe), he told me 
that he was the praste of Pele. He acted as plazed as 
a shepherd dog meetin’ his owld master, whin I divulged 
to him that I wor the friend of Minelulu. He’s telling 
me now that he has vowed two black pigs, six white 
cocks and two calabashes of red fish to Pele, if she will 
deliver us from this scrape.” 

“And did he tell you that Minelulu was, or had been 
here,” asked Rollo. 

“No,” exclaimed Barney excitedly, “an’ how do you 
know it yourself?” 

“Follow me!” said Rollo, “and you’ll see something 
good for sore eyes.” 

So saying they all left Hiwa-hiwa, and Barney followed 
the boys to the little cave where the opium was concealed. 
A cry of astonished and angry dismay burst from their 
lips as they entered, after rolling over the hollow boulder. 

Every can of the contraband drug had disappeared. 
Rollo could only hand Barney the letter and handker- 
chief of Minelulu. They returned to Hiwa-hiwa’s cave, 
and questioned him closely. He seemed as much sur- 
prised at its vanishing as they were. He admitted that 
he brought it there a few weeks previously, having learned 
from Minelulu of its concealment by the Chinamen muti- 
neers on Kahoolawe. As he was familiar with all the 
caves and ravines of that island, it did not take him long 


108 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


to discover and convey it by canoe to Kailua, whence it 
was carried, concealed in green hides on pack oxen, to 
these tombs of the Kings. 

“It’s the dhirty Chinaman has swiped it,” mourned 
Barney bitterly. “Say nothing to anyone; but I’ll kape 
me eye on the yellow divil and we’ll soon find it. He’ll 
be after shmokin’ some uv the dope and thin he’ll give 
himself away. Kape mum, and I’ll git the coffee .planta- 
tion yit.” 

The next morning Professor Alexis remarked, “Boys, 
I believe I have solved th^ mystery of this pepper-box 
roof to our cavern.” 

“And what is it?” cried the boys in one breath. 

“And will it set us free?” added Russell anxiously. 

“Hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, this was a 
little open crater. Then it was filled up with a-a (porous 
lava), by the flows through the tunnels. In the course 
of time soil enough formed over it to support a vigorous 
growth of trees. After this forest had grown up, a new 
surface flow of pa-hoe-hoe swept in among the trees and 
congealed around their charred trunks; that forms the 
roof. we see. These trunks burned out slowly, leaving 
the chimneys like cannon bores, as we see them. Finally 
another lava flow came through the tunnels, sweeping 
away the friable a-a as water washes away gravel, leav- 
ing the solid lava, with this chimney formation in it, in 
the roof of the crater.” 

“Professor Alexis,” said Rollo, “there must be an open 
shaft where the water escapes under the pool, that would 
lead us out to safety.” 

“Boomguy,” said Mr. Alexis, “would you dare to dive 
down in that tunnel and feel your way along for a few 
feet? It may be that the egress is nearer than we imag- 
ine. We can attach a riata to you, and pull you back if 
the current is too strong. Desperate conditions warrant 
desperate remedies.” 



Cooking by the Volcano Fire. For lack of fuel in the Catacombs, 
they lowered their kettles, roasts and coffee pot to the hot crust in the 
crater, through which swept the lava flow. “Kanaka Joss Pele Makee 
plenty Fire in Kitchen, down side,” said Spunyarn. 


110 ' Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

“He would surely drown!” exclaimed Russell with a 
shudder of dread. 

“I think about it; talk palaver with Spunyarn,” re- 
turned Boomguy. 

The next morning after a long whispered conference, 
the two dare-devils made the following surprising propo- 
sition. For i6o rials ($20 U. S. money) Boomguy 
would make the plunge and dive to the end of the tunnel. 

Professor Alexis accepted at once. Kanakas are the best 
divers in the world. Still, Rollo and Russell regarded 
the feat as both impossible and fatal. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


111 


CHAPTER XL 

Boomguy Conspires with Spunyarn. — Performs a Miracle 
Under the Water Pool. — The Rawhide Telegraph Warns that 
all is Lost. — Spunyarn’s Inspiration and Ladder of Lava 
Slabs. — A White-hot Flood Pours Through their Retreat. — 
The Holocaust of Capt. Cook’s Grotto and the Pepper-box. — 
A Fire Cascade 1,500 Feet Deep! — The Dead Guide Bobs up 
Serenely, and Tells “How it Happened.’’ — They Find the Foun- 
tain Head of the Swift White River. 

OOMGUY immediately stripped for 
the perilous enterprise. He fastened 
a riata noose to his waist and a long 
thong to his wrist. 

“How long can you dive without 
breathing?” asked Mr. Hadley. 

“Three minute,” returned the Kan- 
aka promptly. 

“At the end of that time we will 
draw you back quickly.” 

“No! No!” exclaimed Boomguy. 
“I teleglap Spunyarn. He tell you 
what do.” 

At that moment a sudden gust 
through the grotto extinguished their candle. Before 
Rollo could find matches and relight, he heard the bul- 
lock-catcher plunge into the waters of the dark pool. 
With a trembling voice, Rollo whispered to Russell, “I’m 
a pretty good diver myself, and dare most any reasonable 
feat under the water; but I wouldn’t swap places with 
Boomguy; no not for a million dollars! The current 
sucks down under that pool like a Niagara.” 

■ They paid out one lasso, (75 feet), and attached an- 
other; they held their breath in suspense. The signals 
agreed on were as follows : one quick jerk, — pay out 



112 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


steadily; two jerks, — pay out faster; one long pull, — 
haul in slowly; two long pulls, — haul in faster. 

Three minutes by the watch, and suddenly the Profes- 
sor grasped the rope to draw back the diver from death. 
Spunyarn pushed him aside. 

“Me boss here; Boomguy he say pay out!” 

They watched the thong, but it was impossible to read 
the messages with their eyes. By the strain on the lasso 
they imagined Boomguy had either given up the ghost, 
or was still groping his way down the slope of the tunnel. 
Five minutes had elapsed. 

“This is terrible!” muttered the Professpr, “to feel 
that a human life is in jeopardy, and depends on you for 
rescue. But if he’s not dead yet we must obey orders. 
If we use force, his head will be crushed against the 
rocks.” 

“More lasso,” said Spunyarn in a faint voice, and 
Rollo rove on another riata. Still the Chinaman mut- 
tered, “pay out I pay out!” Ten minutes had elapsed and 
it was evident that the Professor was becoming faint 
Avith anxiety. Only ten feet remained of the last lasso, 
showing that tlie tunnel was more than two hundred 
feet long. Then came a desperate tug and wrench, but 
Spunyarn hissed between his teeth, “hold fast !” 

Twenty minutes; all strain and signals had ceased. 
Mr. Hadley groaned, “Is Boomguy dead or alive?” 
Twenty-five minutes: Spunyarn sadly motioned to the 
boys to pull in slowly. Sometimes they thought they 
could detect life in the varying strain, but so sure was 
Russell that they were tugging at a corpse, that he 
dropped sobbing to the ground and Mr. Hadley took 
his place. At the end of thirty-five minutes they strained 
on the last lasso. 

“Haul in faster,” whispered Spunyarn, and they buck- 
led to the work. It was a hard strain, that of a human 
body against that current in a shaft at some points as 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 113 

narrow as a hogshead. Occasionally Spunyarn instructed 
“Slow ! — Faster !” and the Professor said hoarsely, 
“There is some method in his madness anyway !” Only 
ten feet remained of the last lasso. Suddenly the candle 
again expired. 

“Such a draft to-day down the chimneys !” exclaimed 
the Professor. 

When the torch again illuminated the grotto a minute 
later, there lay Boomguy on the cold lava floor,' still 
breathing but seemingly more dead than alive. Russell 
was on his knees, crying for joy. Tenderly they rubbed 
him dry, gave him brandy, and wrapped him in blankets. 

“How did you ever get a breath in that half hour?” 
demanded the Professor an hour later. 

“Two time get mouth out of water, bump head on 
rock,” explained Boomguy. 

“I don’t believe a word of it, now Pve thought it 
over,” whispered Russell to Rollo. “There’s some big 
skulduggery in the whole mess.” 

Later Boomguy informed Professor Alexis that he 
crept under water along^200 feet of shaft of a gradual 
slope; then emerged into an echoing grotto, where he 
heard the torrent plunge over a precipice into another 
pool fifty feet below. 

“It’s simply a miracle!” exclaimed the Professor. “I 
can’t credit it, and yet every fact compels my belief. If 
there had been any other egress than the one under water, 
he would have reported it to save his own life as well as 
ours. That he was under water for more than a quarter 
of an hour is absolutely certain.” 


Some months later. Professor Alexis met Boomguy, 
and he divulged the secret of his miraculous aquatic feat. 
He had then reformed, and was a field overseer on a 
sugar plantation. The apparatus he employed consisted 


114 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

of the two rubber bags in which Professor Alexis carried 
clothing and provisions. One of these had once been 
used to feed an oxyhydrogen blowpipe, through a rubber 
tube in its bottom. In this bag Boomguy placed a heavy 
stone, some matches and a candle. This bag (inflated) 
he carried with him. (Both had been concealed in Capt. 
Cook’s grotto.) When all was ready, ^ the candle was 
blown out, and Spunyarn then whipped the empty bag 
over Boomguy’s head, and fastened it under his arm- 
pits. In groping through the tunnel Boomguy held the 
weighted bag in one hand, and guided himself with the 
other. As the air in the bag on his head became foul, 
he replenished it through the tube from the other. Once 
while in the tunnel he found he could get his head above 
water. He then replenished the air in both bags. In 
the grotto he lit his candle and was able to see that all 
hopes of escape in that direction were futile. 

The trick was an invention of Spunyarn’s ingenuity. 
He had seen rubber bags used in subrnarine maneuvres 
by pearl divers and wreckers in the Indian Ocean. The 
paraphernalia answered the purpose of a small diving bell. 

Two days later, Rollo came hastily into the pepper- 
box chamber. 

“The lava in the crater is rising fast” he cried. “There 
is no black crust on it this time!” 

“Comrades,” exclaimed the Professor, “this may be 
our doom. Let us make our peace with God, and His 
will be done.” 

At this Spunyarn leaped to his feet with a mighty in- 
spiration. 

“Me have idee. Go pilee up pa-hoe-hoe slab on slantee 
wall, all samee makee ladda. Get outee pepper-box hole 
like plenty rabbits topside.” 

“A grand scheme, and feasible too,” cried Mr. Hadley. 
“All hands bring slabs!” 


115 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

There were quite a number of these scattered through 
the caverns and shafts, and in half an hour Boomguy 
and Barney had built a structure against the slightly 
slanting wall, like a series of letter Hs, more than fifty 
feet high, the one standing on its fellow. 

“There goes the telegraph warning !” cried Russell, as 
the rock suspended by the thong dropped with a clang on 
the iron kettles below it. “The lava has risen and entered 
the tunnel I” 

Spunyarn now came in and reported that the molten 
river had reached their barricade, and was seeping and 
melting its way through the crevices. 

“Rollo,” said his uncle, “you are the smallest bodied of 
the party. Spring up the ladder, and cut your way with 
a hatchet through the nearest chimney. It is too narrow 
for Boomguy’s shoulders.” 

In a trice, Rollo had scaled the stairway of slabs, and 
standing on a jutting rock fell to work. As fast as he 
chopped away the obstructions he wormed his way into 
the chimney. As he glanced below, he saw the other 
members of the party ascending the dangerous wall. 

“Where is Barney?” suddenly cried the Professor. “I 
saw him only five minutes ago.” 

“Here,” yelled the Irishman from the end of the cav- 
ern, where he was just entering, followed by the Kanaka 
priest, Hiwa-hiwa, into whose cave he had shouted a 
word of warning a minute before. The sudden appearance 
of the wild looking Kahuna attracted but momentary as- 
tonishment, as each individual knew that in the next few 
minutes life and death hung in the balance. The Kahuna 
chanted prayers to the Fire Goddess in a loud and weird 
voice. The only propitiatory sacrifice he could find in the 
cavern was the cow’s head, which he held ready to toss 
into the white hot torrent. 

Rollo applied himself to the work with a grim despera- 
tion. He was in the only chimney that could be reached 


116 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


from the slanting wall. He realized that the precious 
lives of his companions, as well as his own, depended on 
his efforts. He knew also from the hot stifling air as- 
cending around his body that the river of hot metal had 
entered the pepper-box. The lava walls of the chimney 
were hard but somewhat friable, and yielded slowly but 
surely to his blows. Inch by inch, and foot by foot, he 
worked his way up, encouraged by Professor Alexis’ 
cheering voice from below. In his agony he thought of 
his sisters and brothers and parents. ■ They would never 
know what tragic fate had overwhelmed their relatives. 
Their mysterious disappearance would be heralded in the 
newspapers all over the world. A thousand years later, 
searchers for moss agates might find their charred bones 
and those of Umi and Captain Cook. Suddenly he heard 
a roar and knew that their barricade in the tunnel had 
broken away, and permitted the lava to surge down the 
tunnel in full force. But, thank God, now he was free! 
He had squeezed himself out into the sunshine! 

There was not a second to lose. He glanced below, 
and saw the gory hot river was twisting and writhing its 
way over the cavern floor. His companions were staaiding 
on the ladder, their clothes smoking with the heat. Rollo 
drew a thong from his pocket and dropped one end to 
Spunyarn ; then drew up the lasso which he attached. 
To the loop of this he noosed the hatchet, lowered it 
through the widest chimney, and swung it like a pendu- 
lum. Boomguy was the first to catch it, and come up 
the rope, hand over hand. In the same way the others 
were rescued and hoisted up safely. Just as Hiwa-hiwa, 
the last one, emerged, the lava melted away the fo(^ of 
Spunyarn’s ladder, and it fell into the fire-river with a 
crash. 

The whole camp and all their belongings were on fire. 
Tine canoe which had been brought in to be used as fuel, 
the feather mantle and otlier priceless treasures of anti- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 117 


quity were being devoured in this holocaust of Hades 
which had suddenly inundated the pepperbox grotto. 

‘‘Comrades,” said Professor Alexis solemnly, “can you 
doubt the infinite mercy of our Heavenly Father, who has 
snatched us almost by a miracle from a most horrible 
death? Let us kneel, and not only thank Him, but con- 
secrate our future lives to His service for this deliver- 
ance.” 

It was a prayer of thanksgiving and praise, in which 
every one joined with bowed heads and grateful hearts. 
Even Boomguy and Spunyarn, hardened sinners though 
they were, were touched and shed tears of humble con- 
trition. So plainly could they see the hand of Providence 
that from that day they became sober and God-fearing 
citizens. 

The Kahuna, too, though steeped in the mire of bigoted 
idolatry, exclaimed: “Yours is indeed a God of love 
and mercy. I will renounce my deities. They are the oflf- 
spring of hatred and evil.” 

Climbing a little cliff, from which they had a full view 
of the roof of the pepper-box, the party reclined under 
a tree to rest and compose their trembling limbs. 

Not fifteen minutes later, there came a sharp earth- 
quake shock, and the ground seemed to groan and heave 
under their feet. Then followed a roar and crash of fall- 
ing rocks. 

“Look ! look !” cried Russell. “The roof of the spice- 
box is falling in ! Now it disappears with a plunge into 
the lava. The white hoc metal filled the cavern and 
melted away the supports to the archway.” 

At that moment a glorious fountain of red and white 
lava shot fifty feet into the air with a terrific roar. Such 
a vast cloud of steam accompanied it that the party were 
compelled to run for their lives, to escape death by scald- 
ing. 


118 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

“Cap’n Cook, he vely much kickee bucket downside 
plenty times again!” exclaimed Spunyarn. 

“Sure enough,” cried Barney. “Whin the white hot 
river plumped into our Russian bath, then miscellaneous 
things had to rip ginerally.” 

Professor Alexis now led them up to the mouth of the 
nearby cone, and they gazed down the throat of the bot- 
tomless pit, into which Spunyarn had rolled the boulder. 
A sharp cry of awe and amazement burst from the lips 
of all. 

They were face to face with a cascade of white metal, 
falling nearly 1,500 feet into the bowels of the earth! 
As far down as the eye could reach was a white sheet of 
liquid fire ! It was pouring out of the tunnel which led 
from the grotto of the waterfall. 

“Boys,” said the Professor, “we need never expect or 
hope to see a grander or more awful sight than this one. 
It is simply terrible in its awful beauty.” 

A few days later, however, they were compelled to 
yield the palm to the magnificent fire fountains of Mokua- 
weoweo. 

“Boys,” continued the Professor, “we are once more 
free from the lava flow. This is the slope of Mauna 
Loa, and a mile below we can see the corral, and our 
horses still feeding in it. Not a hair of our heads is in- 
jured; but alas! Poor Keawe, the guide! He perished 
in a twinkling, when he fell into the fiery chasm. He 
was a good man, and an earnest Christian.” 

Arrived at the enclosure, their horses appeared glad to 
see them and whinnied^ for water. After supplying 
their wants they repaired to the cavern. As they entered, 
a human being leaped up from a sheepskin couch ^vith 
a wild scream, partly of terror, but more of delight. Be- 
fore they could recognize him in the twilight of the cave, 
he was embracing each one with a torrent of tears and 
exclamations. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 119 

Auwe ! Hauoli nui ! Ua lanakila i ka make a me ka 
diabolo! ma o ka mana o ke Akua (oh joy and glad tid- 
ings; you have triumphed over death and the devil hy 
the power and grace of God!)’" 

And sure enough, it was Keawe, whom they had 
mourned for dead. He had come out of the fiery flood 
unscathed. 

“Why ! I saw you roll down into the white hot river, 
and I smelled your hair and flesh burning !” exclaimed 
Mr. Hadley. 

“Even so, master,” replied Keawe, — the Professor 
translating, — “but the angels of God bore me on their 
wings to this retreat, and saved me from the powers of 
hell. What you smelled was the stench of the burning 
blanket, and within it a piece of wild hog. These fell 
from me when I made the last leap. I cleared that chasm 
safely ; praise God for his mighty works !” 

Then Keawe related to them whaf happened later. 
From that corral he could see the avalanche of lava sweep- 
ing over their little valley and cave. But still he hoped 
against hope, and trusted, as he said, in the infinite mercy 
of God. 

One day when roaming the slope of the mountain in 
search of wild strawberries and black geese, he distinctly 
heard the murmur of human voices, issuing from some 
unseen blowhole. Then he determined to remain in 
the vicinity, praying daily until, in the providence of God, 
as he expressed it, the earth yawned and gave up, not the 
dead but the living. “And behold now,” he said, “my 
prayer is answered.” 

“Boys,” said their uncle, as they sat by the camp fire 
after supper, “I don’t quite understand about this heathen 
priest Hiwa-hiwa, whom Barney found so suddenly, just 
as the lava flow broke into the tunnel; tell me what you 
know about him.” 

“All right, uncle,” said Rollo. “Now that Barney has 


120 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

lost all hope of recovering the opium, you ought to know 
the tale.” And he recounted the adventures they had 
gone through, in discovering the treasure and the Kahu- 
na, omitting, however, all allusion to Minelulu. ‘‘We 
would have told you before, uncle, only we had given 
our word of honor to Barney to preserve his secrets. 
As long as the priest was a prisoner like ourselves, he 
could do us no good in discovering a way of escape.” 

“Mr. Alexis,’ said their uncle, as the Professor 
approached the fire, “supposing we interview this Hiwa- 
hiwa, and learn some Hawaiian mythology from him.” 

“Excellent idea ! Boomguy,” he cried, “find the priest, 
and tell him we want to talk to him about the goddess 
Pele.” 

Boomguy and Spunyarn both disappeared, and after 
half an hour’s absence, reported that the holy man had 
flitted, leaving not a trace behind him. A pai-ai (bundle 
of poi) had evidently gone with him too. 

“I tinkee he vamose pretty quick Waimanu downside,” 
added Spunyarn with a cunning twinkle in his eyes. 

“That’s the Valley of Songsters in the Kohala Moun- 
tains,” explained the Professor. “Now boys. Pm going 
to scale Mauna Loa up to the great crater of Mokua- 
weo-weo. Would you care to accompany me?” 

“Yes, indeed,” they cried; and Russell added: “The 
only lava flows I am afraid of now are the underground 
variety. But what are we going to do for eatables? 
The greatest part of our commissary lies many fathoms 
under the lava in Captain Cook’s grotto.” 

“Boomguy tells me,” said the Professor, “that two 
miles east from here there is a patch of dense woods 
around a deep water hole.” 

“And the wild cattle will come in from the open just at 
daybreak,” exclaimed Rollo. “If Russell and I are there 
with our guns at five o’clock we can have our choice of 
fat game.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


121 


“All right/’ said their uncle ; “we have some condensed 
milk and canned goods left, but if you don’t get some 
substantial additions to them we will have to kill and eat 
a mule before we get to the crater of Kilauea.” 

Spurred on by this unsavory prospect of donkey diet, 
the boys were up at four o’clock with Boomguy and 
Spunyarn, and the first gleam of lawn found them hid- 
den in a little cave in the cliffs around the water hole. 
By nine o’clock they reappeared, jubilant, at the corral, 
bending under their heavy load. 

“Bedad, and this bates atein jackass,” exclaimed Bar- 
ney. “One fat yearlin’ heifer ; — she got tangled up in 
Boomguy’s lasso ; four turkeys and as many wild geese ; 
— they come too close to Rollo and Russell ; one young 
pig; — he shtrayed too far from his mither, and shtrolled 
into bad company with an Irishman.” Before night 
Boomguy and Spunyarn had made the heifer into tasajo 
in a hot cavern of the lava flow. The next day they were 
in the saddle when the morning star arose over Mauna 
Kea. All day they climbed through alternate fields of 
lava and wastes of volcano ash, thickly grown up with 
coarse grass and scrub trees. They passed through sev- 
eral rings of clouds that clung to the steep slopes of the 
dome. 

“Do you notice these low trees with a dark olive green 
leaf?” asked the Professor. 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “and here’s a dry branch I’ve broken 
off. Why, it is sweet scented. It must be sandal-wood.” 

“Not the genuine,” returned Mr. Alexis. “It’s what 
is called false sandal-wood. A whaling captain in ill 
luck, quietly loaded his barque with the timber, one time, 
and took it to Hong-Kong. He thought he had a for- 
tune, but soon found out that his cargo was worth little 
more than firewood. To-morrow by the way, we must 
load the mules with fuel for use at the summit.” 


122 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

“Is there nothing growing then on the top of Mauna 
Loa?” asked Russell. 

“Absolutely nothing, either vegetable or animal. There 
are about one hundred square miles of table land on the 
summit, and I doubt it the whole district would support 
a canary bird. Even the rocks are bare of lichens, and 
I have failed to find animalculae in the dust and mud 
under a powerful microscope.'’ 

“That is the result of intense cold and the rarity of the 
air, I suppose,” said Rollo. 

“Exactly. It is a region of everlasting frost and eter- 
nal death. Still these high uplands are not so very un- 
wholesome a country to live in. We have seen several 
herds of wild cattle to-day, and there are thousands of 
goats who take kindly to the scrub and coarse grass. 
Many years ago. Commodore Wilkes of the U. S. Explor- 
ing Expedition, camped with his officers near the very 
edge of the crater for several weeks, while making sur- 
veys, and felt no serious results.” 

“And why is it called Mauna Loa, or the Tar moun- 
tain'?” asked Mr. Hadley. 

“Because the ancient Hawaiians noticed what we can see 
from this very point ; that no matter from what direction 
you approach it, or how far you recede from it, the regu- 
larity of the great dome seems to be always the same. 
Even from this high altitude the mountain presents very 
nearly the same appearance as from Hilo.” 

That night they encamped under a jutting ledge. It 
was the timber limit, and the Kanakas and Spunyarn 
gathered bundles of faggots and grass, for use on the 
summit. The scene in the Valley between the huge moun- 
tains was magnificent. They could trace the course of 
the lava flow to its vanguard of fire lakes and burning 
forests twenty miles away. From some point above them, 
not in their range of vision, shone forth a dazzling white 
light which illuminated brilliantly the white peaks of 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics ’ 123 

Mauna Kea, the upper surface of thousands of square 
miles of floating clouds, and the protruding peaks of 
Maui and Molokai, a hundred and fifty miles away in the 
sky. 

The next morning at four o'clock they were climbing 
the last inclines of the dome. It was the hardest day’s 
struggle of the whole expedition. Old lava flows crossed 
and recrossed each other in every direction and their pas- 
sage was sometimes almost a struggle of life and death 
to their horses. Nothing could be seen but vast fields of 
black pa-hoe-hoe and huge waves, ridges and cones of 
red a-a and scoria, with occasional glacier-like banks of 
snow. It was a repetition of their experiences on the 
tablelands below, save that at this altitude the frosty winds 
cut like needles to their very marrow bones. At noon, as 
they scaled the hogsback of a high ridge, Boomguy 
gave a shout and pointed toward the right. 

“It’s the fountain head of the Fire River!” exclaimed 
the Professor. “We have avoided the stream in the as- 
cent to escape the fumes.’-’ 

It was easy to get the direction, for the hoarse roaring 
of the stream and sulphur vapors could be heard for miles 
around. In an hour they stood on the edge of a huge 
rent, more than a mile in length. At the upper end, 
under a towering cliff, was a cavern two hundred feet 
wide, glowing like a naked disc of the sun, and vomit- 
ing out a vast avalanche of white hot metal. So fierce 
V was the -heat, that the boys only took one look over the 
edge, and hastened back to avoid being roasted alive. 
Spunyarn, at Professor Alexis’ request, proceeded down 
parallel to the edge of the chasm two hundred paces, 
while Boomguy tossed a boulder of a-a into the torrent, 
and the Chinaman threw up his hat when it passed him. 

“More than thirty miles an hour,” exclaimed the Pro- 
fessor ; “millions of tons a minute are being hurled plung- 
ing down the mountain side. Here is where the mountain 


124 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

cracked open, and this Niagara will continue to vomit 
until the internal pressure has exhausted itself, — perhaps 
for a year or more.” 

“And does this stream come from the crater?” asked 
Rollo. 

“By no means. There is nothing to indicate that it has 
any connection with Moku-aweo-weo or Kilauea. Now 
we must hurry on to reach the big chasm, eight miles dis- 
tant before dark.” 

The route was more level now, and they discovered a 
smooth lava flow which led in the desired direction. But 
a few miles further this was cut at right angles by a ter- 
rible chaos of a-a flow, in which they struggled for hours 
and almost gave up hope of crossing. Finally, however, 
they emerged. A clatter as if of a thousand falling 
meteors came over a nearby ridge, which proved to be 
the extreme summit. 

Keawe advised to leave the horses in a little canyon 
shut oflf from the wind by perpendicular cliffs. They 
took a hurried supper. 

As they gained the ridge, suddenly the grandest and 
most marvelous phenomena ever gazed upon by human 
eyes burst into view, and they sank on their knees in 
amazement. They were face to face with the Fire Foun- 
tain of Moku-aweo-weo ! 


A. Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


125 


CHAPTER XII. 

Fire Fountains of Moku-aweo-weo, the World’s Greatest 
Wonder. — Terrible in their Beauty. — High Altitudes and Moun- 
tain Sickness. — Workshops of Vulcan and Pele, where White 
Hot Breakers Bellow in the Caverns. — The Rim of the Crater 
Breaks with an Awful Crash. — A Struggle of the Horses 
through the Lava Flows. — They Camp among the Clouds. — 
The Professor Opens a College of Volcano Science. 

IGHT under the cliff on which they stood 
was the famous crater, eight hundred feet 
deep, surrounded by sheer precipitous and 
frowning barrier walls of solid rock. The 
rim, more than eight miles in circumfer- 
ence, presented an unbroken barrier against 
any descent to the eternal fires. Not more than half a 
mile distant from them were three pyramids of red and 
gold liquid fire ; one two hundred, a second three hun- 
dred, while the third was fully five hundred feet high. 
This third one was a perfect fountain from one to two 
hundred feet in diameter. It rose perpendicularly with 
a white body of dazzling, sunlike sheen, whose summit 
broke outwardly, presenting a general effect like that of 
a. huge golden sheaf of wheat, variegated at the apex 
with a thousand corruscations. The higher jets, cooling' 
slightly in the frosty air, fell over in graceful curves, 
and like an avalanche of rubies, dropped with a roar of 
thuds into the dull red lake. Occasionally this sheaf sub- 
sided nearly to the lake’s level, only to toss its magnifi- 
cent white tresses again toward the stars, with redoubled 
vigor. The other two pyramids were more grotesque 
and less regular in action. Sometimes they formed 
almost perfect cones, then again the apexes would fall 
inwardly, presenting the effect of a monster cylinder, 
hollow at the top. Then they would subside, and widen, 





126 Adverxtiires of Eollo in Hawaii 

and now the surface of the lake, a mile in width, would 
boil furiously, sending great tidal waves to and fro from 
clifif to cliff, and dashing gory billows of metal high on 
the rocks, and through the bellowing, reverberating cav- 
erns beneath them. 

Beyond the lake, the floor of the crater appeared at 
first, — save for a few smoke columns, — to be an almost 
lifeless chaos of cones and rolling lava beds, split into 
broken glass patterns by innumerable crevasses. But as 
the disc of the sun plunged over the horizon, and night 
fell cold and still upon the vast mountain, the whole 
chasm of Moku-aweo-weo broke into Plutonic industry. 
The cones glowed white and red from within, like a 
blacksmith’s forge; many of the rifts in the pa-hoe-hoe 
burst into fitful fiery gleams, showing that they concealed 
active lakes, whose waves were bellowing through the 
caverns of Hades. 

‘‘You can imagine,” said Mr. Hadley, “that the black 
genie who forge the thunderbolts of Pele and Jupiter and 
Vulcan, are hard at work in those smoke grimed grottos 
of the infernal world.” 

“Yes,” said Russell, “almost without imagination, I 
can hear the thuds of the big trip-hammer, the wheeze 
of the blast furnace, and the clang of the great sledges 
on the anvils.” 

“And note,” said Professor Alexis, “the sharp contrast 
between the terrific activity that reigns within the cra- 
ter and the profound stillness without. The clouds be- 
low us are motionless, the stars beam downward in be- 
nign serenity; all nature sleeps. Besides ourselves, not 
a living plant or animal stirs or exists on this hundred 
square miles of summit tableland. All solid lava and 
scoria, silent in the death of a thousand years ; but the 
mighty volcano goes on incessantly, adding hundreds of 
millions of tons of rock to the volume of Mauna Loa 
every hour.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 127 

'And what a strange feeling,” added Mr. Hadley, "to 
know that you are at the summit of one of the highest 
peaks between the Andes and Himalayas, and yet noth- 
ing visible but this plain and the distant horizon.” 

"And another strange feeling,” said Russell, "is con- 
nected, not with this pit of the volcano, but with the pit 
of one’s stomach. Great Pele and little fire imps ! 
Ho^w my head throbs, and I feel a decided impulse to 
throw up my boots.” 

"Yes! Yes!” exclaimed the professor. "I had for- 
gotten the rarity — of the atmosphere, I mean — not your 
complaint. Boomguy, a hat full of snow from that bank 
at once. Now; boys, let me feel your pulses. Keawe, 
where is that snug little cave you just reported? Now, 
all hands rub your temples with snow ; it is the best pre- 
ventive for mountain sickness. Spunyarn, some faggots 
for fire! — pai pai ! Your pulse is no, Russell! Bathe 
your head well with snow water. Mr. Hadley,” he 
whispered, “give us a stiff brandy toddy all around, — 
a drop of peppermint to disguise it, — we must not com- 
promise ourselves with the Kanakas, — they are too fond 
of intoxicants, already.” 

"If we only had a good pot full of hot coffee,” said 
Rollo, "I believe we would weather the mountain com- 
plaint before morning.” 

"You can’t make coffee very well at this elevation,” 
returned his uncle. "Water boils here at 192° ; you can 
almost hold your hand in it.” 

In a few minutes the camp luggage was stowed in 
the little grotto on an eminence which commanded a 
view of the crater’s floor, but was well set back from 
the jutting rim. 

"What makes it so warm in here?” asked Rollo. 

"A big cleft in the pa-hoe-hoe,” returned Mr. Alexis. 
"Here, hold your hand; — hot air and dry steam are 
rising.” 


128 


Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 


“And what’s to hinder one of those fire fountains from 
waltzing up that cleft and introducing himself to our 
company?” asked Russell, a little anxiously. 

“Don’t worry,” said his uncle. “In volcano-land we 
must not be too particular. The mills of the gods grind 
slowly. That steam vent may have been here for a 
couple of thousand years.” 

“An’ if you can’t be aisy, just be as aisy as you can,” 
added Barney. 

The Irishman and Spunyarn soon had a cheerful fire, 
and walled up the cave door with slabs, leaving an aper- 
ture through which the party watched the magnificent 
fireplay and volcano pyrotechnics until midnight. Rus- 
sell’s fears of too close proximity were not groundless. 
At 3 o’clock, when all were slumbering, there came a 
most dicidedly vigorous jerk of an earthquake. 

Suddenly their ears were stunned by a succession of 
sharp, splitting explosions, like the rattle of musketry 
and cannon ; then a terrific crash in the crater was heard, 
followed by heavy thuds, as if great iron meteors had 
fallen from space. 

They rushed out of the grotto, but found the air so 
full of fine dust and sulphur smoke that even the crater 
and stars were blotted out, and intense darkness reigned. 

“Don’t stir, boys,” said the Professor, “we may step 
right over the declivity! Wait for the vapors to blow 
away.” 

In a few minutes the wind had cleared the atmosphere, 
as smoke is wafted from a battlefield. 

'‘The jutting rim of the crater has fallen into the 
laker exclaimed Rollo. 

“Yes, the very edge we sat on for an hour,” added 
Russell, “and the fire fountains have disappeared, too; 
they are as dead as Julius Caesar!” 

“Be the blissid saints, it’s the bottomless pit now” 


129 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

cried Barney. “The airthquake has ran away wid the 
bottom, an’ lift nothing intirely but purgatory.” 

“And our horses, too, must have gone down,” con- 
tinued Russell, — “ Jacilis descensus in Az>ernof as 
Virgil says (the descent into Hades is very easy), — .as 
a meat offering to the goddess. Well, accidents will hap- 
pen in the best regulated* families, and this goes to prove 
how well regulated Pele’s household is.” 

In a few minutes, however, Boomguy returned and 
reported the animals safe, though snorting with fear, and 
straining on their lariats. A section of the rim nearly one 
hundred feet wide, and several hundred feet in length, 
had been hurled into the crater by the quake. The stars 
and crater fires now began to twinkle again. 

“Look !” cried the Professor, “a large part of the 
cliff has plunged into the lake and choked the fountains. 
The debris is floating on the surface, — enough rock was 
split off to build a good sized city.” 

“Kanaka Joss Pele, he no likee eat cold grub,”’ put in 
Spunyarn. “She pretty quick get mad; heave up Jonah.” 

“Yes,” added Mr. Hadley. “The old lady is beginning 
to grumble, the waves to toss and tumble, — the caverns 
to bellow and rumble. She evidently dislikes to take her 
own medicine ; — quite a dose of it, too. That avalanche 
contained billions of tons of rock.” 

The lake surface was strangely agitated by monster 
billows that dashed against each other from opposite 
directions and then back into the booming caverns. Sud- 
denly the dark red waves were thrown into huge eddies 
and whirlpools with vortices of cherry red and orange 
white. 

“There she blows!” cried Russell. “She’s getting as 
mad as a hornet for the delay and choking up of her 
fireworks.” 

A central ‘whirlpool of fire now appeared, wallowing 
with gory gouts and clots, occasionally heaving upward 


130 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

and hurling great breakers laden with grinding rocks. 
The whirlpool changed to a pyramid of seething gold, 
the summit of which rose in fitful jets, like water spouts 
on the ocean. Suddenly the obstructions below appeared 
to give away, and the white metal shot a hundred feet 
into the air, only to subside again into the frenzied lake. 
In a minute’s time, with a thundering roar of escaping 
steam and vapors, there shot up a still higher column. 

“At least three hundred feet!” exclaimed the Profes- 
sor. “I can estimate by comparison with the opposite 
wall of the crater.” 

Higher and higher rose each fountain as the spasms 
increased in violence. 

“Six hundred feet at least was the height of that last 
one ! We had better move back to safer ground ; for the 
furious action may hurl a torrent of liquid hot rock 
against this very cliff.” 

The lake subsided almost to quiescence. Then, with a 
hoarse bellow, its whole surface was lifted up with irre- 
sistible force, and rose three times in a glorious upward 
burst. So mighty was the power, and so dazzling was 
the light, that the whole earth seemed to .tremble, and 
the moon and stars appeared to withdraw their light 
abashed into far-off space. 

But the whole party stood spellbound, fascinated by 
the marvelous spectacle, until the next upburst. Higher 
than their heads soared the fountains, laden with the 
huge red-hot boulders which had evidently choked up 
the funnels below. The heat, cosmic dust, and white 
ashes were no longer endurable, and the whole party 
broke and ran for the higher ground at a desperate pace. 

“That jet,” said the Professor, “was higher than the 
rim, fully 800 feet from base to tip, and could doubtless 
be seen from other islands of the group, and one or two 
hundred miles to sea. I doubt if any human eye ever 
gazed on a grander fire display. You can tell of its 


131 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

transcendental magnificence to your children and grand- 
children.” 

“Mr. Alexis,” said Rollo, suddenly, “what are these 
bright spots floating in the air? Each one of them ap- 
pears to be attached to a long hair, as if it were the 
nucleus to the tail of a tiny comet.” 

“Those are the tresses of the goddess (lauoho o Pele). 
They are formed by the force of the wind, whichfcatches 
morsels of melted rock from the fountain jet, and car- 
ries them away with long hairs spun behind them. To 
the leeward of Kilauea crater, I have often found de- 
posits of this hair, looking like coarse wool, filling the 
gullies and rock clefts.” 

“And is there any value to it?” asked Russell. 

“None whatever, except as a curiosity. This ‘Pele’s 
hair’ partakes of the nature of spun glass, but is too 
friable for any useful purpose.” 

On returning to the crater’s edge, they found that the 
fountains had subsided to their normal action. 

“I am nearly frozen !” cried Russell. “That hot air 
shaft in the grotto, is a good thing to have in the family, 
after all.” 

“The thermometer records 23° above zero,” said Mr. 
Alexis. “We will roll up in the blankets again and take 
a needed rest.” 

“The Kanakas suffer from the frost far more than we 
do,” added Mr. Hadley. “They are accustomed to a 
minimum of 55° or 60° above zero.” 

The sun was shining brightly in the morning when 
Mr. Hadley awoke the boys. The Professor had com- 
pleted his scientific observations, and the horses were 
saddled in readiness for the trip downward to the crater 
of Kilauea, on Mauna Loa’s southern flank. 

“And are we not going to make the descent into 
Moku-aweo-weo ?” asked Rollo, with evident disappoint- 
ment, 


132 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

“No,” answered Mr. Alexis, “there is no pathway 
down the precipices. We might lower ourselves 800 feet 
by the riatas, but that would be hazardous during an 
eruption. Besides that, we are all affected more or less 
with mountain sickness.” 

After skirting the crater for a mile or two, they sud- 
denly came upon an open space in the lee of a high ridge, 
where the lava bed was smooth and clear of slabs. 

“Here’s a historic spot !” cried Rollo. “Look at yon- 
der inscription cut on the smooth rock of that cliff.” 

COMMODORE WILKES’ EXPLORING EXPEDITION. 

OBSERVATION CAMP, 1 842. 

“Sure enough,” said the Professor. “The commo- 
dore did some very valuable work here, more than sixty 
years ago ; spending several weeks in surveying with his 
officers the mountain and craters.” 

“My head throbs so, I am going to dismount and 
walk,” said Russell. 

But he had not proceeded a hundred yards before he 
was compelled to lay down panting for breath; he was 
very glad to remount. 

“Until one’s lungs are accustomed to the rarified air, 
it is almost impossible to perform any strenuous work 
with the muscles,” explained Mr. Alexis. “We had 
better stick to our horses until we reach a more salu- 
brious climate.” 

They now entered upon the serious work of the day. 
For ages the summit tableland had been the playground 
of the volcano forces. Lava flows without number had 
crossed and recrossed each other, running in every di- 
rection. Many had caved into the immense tunnels 
formed beneath them, and left precipitous canyons and 
yawning crevasses. Great ridges, miles in length ; jagged 
cones of a-a, slag and red scoria, blocked the travelers’ 
way, and compelled long detours. Again and again. 


A Tlirilliiig Tale of the Tropics 133 

after struggling through a perfect Hades of angular rocks 
and sharp spikes in an ancient flow, they were forced 
back over the same unhappy delirium by some insur- 
mountable barrier or bottomless chasm, seemingly a 
crack running into the bowels of the mountain. 

As Mr. Hadley expressed it, “The whole mountain 
summit was a mystery inscrutable, a torture unutterable, 
and an agony indescribable. Rivers of a-a have rushed 
remorselessly to throw up pinnacles and barrier walls of 
scoria over the kindlier pa-hoe-hoe.” 

“Yes,” said Prof. Alexis, “above an elevation of 9,000 
feet, the whole bulk of Mauna Loa is a frightful desert, at 
once the creation and the prey of the mightiest and most 
cruel force on earth.” 

“For ages, swift rivers have ploughed deep furrows 
through the older congealed waves of fire of this vast 
dome summit.” 

Here the superiority of mules over horses was proven ; 
for the former could spring like cats or goats from one 
boulder to another, while the latter groaned and floun- 
dered, shrank back, cowered, trembled and plunged 
frightfully and painfully, in their efforts to pick their 
way around the obstructions. In this way, struggling, 
jumping, slipping, tumbling, the sorry cavalcade wound 
its way all through this trackless and inanimare region 
of horror and desolation. 

“Sail, ho!” shouted Boomguy. “There she blows; 
green trees and grass, sou-west by west!” 

“Sure enough !” exclaimed Russell. “I can see the 
scrubby forest off on the horizon, and a green slope on 
the mountain’s flank ; and it’s like a glimpse out of Hades 
into the Garden of Eden.” 

In two or three hours they left the lava beds and 
plunged into drifts of black volcano sand. Tufts, of 
coarse grass appeared, then low shrubs, hardy aspleni- 
ums; and finally pygmy trees, whose lives were a con- 


134 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

stant struggle with frost and fire. As the mountain 
slope grew steeper, and the air denser, the spirits of man 
and beast rose. They no longer urged their animals 
with whip and spur; for these smelled the pua-leles 
(sow thistles) in the lower valleys, and broke into a 
gallop to reach a pasture ground where the herbage was 
rich. At sundown they entered the low timber and 
camped. It was twenty miles from the summit crater. 

‘T’m tired of being a cave-dweller,” said Russell. 
“Let us sleep in a tent this time.” 

“It’s Hobson’s choice tonight,” said his uncle. “This 
is the leeward side of the mountain, and fine volcano 
cinders have filled up the grottos and crevasses.” 

The relief from mountain sickness gave them all sharp 
appetites. Spunyarn fairly outdid himself as cook. 

“A supper for a king,” remarked the Professor. “Hot 
biscuits and coffee with cream, fried young turkey, 
fragrant veal stew, porterhouse steaks and wild rasp- 
berries. And to add piquancy and zest to the feast, we 
have seen the grandest sight on earth — accorded to but 
few mortals; the hre fountains of Moknor-zoeo-weo T 

The afternoon clouds had swept over the tropic forest, 
up the mountain side, and now enveloped the camp in 
dense mist. As the tourists sat around the cheerful 
fire before the tent door, Mr. Hadley called upon Prof. 
Alexis for additional information about volcanoes and 
quakes. 

“I could never understand,” said he, “why earth- 
quakes occur where there are no volcanos.” 

“The two phenomena are not necessarily connected 
with each other,” answered the Professor. “The earth- 
quake of Lisbon, the most violent that ever occurred in 
Europe, was not accompanied by any volcanic phe- 
nomena. And the eruption of Kara-ka-toa (Straits of 
Sunda, between Java and Sumatra), — the most violent 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 135 

volcanic explosion in the world’s history, hardly produced 
an earth tremor.” 

“And what causes an earthquake, anyway?” asked 
Russell. 

“To make that clear, I will go back a little, and give 
you some star geology. Millions of years ago the earth 
was a ball of heated incandescent nebulous cloud, re- 
volving around the sun. Gradually the cloud condensed 
into a globe of liquid cosmic rock, such as the sun is 
today. The radiation of heat into space, and attendant 
cooling processes, resulted in a crust, which surrounds 
the liquid interior, as the shell of an egg contains the 
meat. This earth crust is many miles in thickness. The 
liquid interior is very dense, while the crust is compara- 
tively porous and buoyant; it floats on the globe’s sur- 
face as ice on a lake. Now, you are aware that liquid 
metals contract as they cool. So the cooling of the liquid 
as it adds to the crust’s thickness on its lower side, pro- 
duces a thin empty space between the two. For hun- 
dreds of years, the solidity of the crust holds it steady, 
but finally the strain overcomes its rigidity, as the va- 
cuum extends laterally; or, as you might express it, as 
the bubble’s area grows larger. The crust suddenly set- 
tles. This is called by scientists a 'downthrow/ and this 
is what occurred recently at San Francisco, at Valpa- 
raiso, and at Kingston, Jamaica; in all of which distur- 
bances the subsidence was from one to five feet. These 
downfalls spread like ripples in vibrations or undula- 
tions of the earth’s crust, for a long distance from the 
focus of the disturbance, and these are called earth- 
quakes. I believe also that most earthquakes are caused 
by slight subsidences of a fraction of an inch, and may 
extend over millions of square miles. Many of the 
quakes are undulations caused by downthrows in the bed 
of the ocean.” 

“Then,” said Mr. Hadley, “New York and London 


136 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

will have to take their medicine some day, and be shaken 
down like San Francisco was/’ 

“I do not think so. There are in the world’s history 
no records of severe downthrows in frost countries. This 
fact is so strikingly prominent thal; it should give you 
boys some food for hard thinking.” 

‘T have it,” cried Rollo, with a sudden inspiration. 
“The earth’s crust began to form first at the two poles, 
the coldest points, and the frosts of ages have accelerated 
the crust thickening. In the frost regions the blanket 
is very thick, and the bubble seldom or never forms.” 

“And on the other hand,” added Russell, “in the 
warmer zones, nearer the equator, the heat of the sun 
has retarded the cooling process, and there the crust is 
the thinnest and the bubbles form the more frequently.” 

“You are both right,” said the Professor, pleased at 
their shrewdness. “Now, let me call your attention to an- 
other important matter. It has been found by marine 
soundings, that a long valley, many miles deep, lies in 
the ocean to the west of both North and South America. 
This valley runs north and south parallel to the Andes 
Mountains. The western coasts of America are noted 
for frequent earthquakes. There is another deep valley 
in the Pacific Ocean, east of and parallel to the islands of 
Japan, which are even more afflicted with quakes 
than South America. Now try and explain why the sub- 
marine valleys should have such an effect.” 

After some reflection Rollo ventured a theory. “The 
valleys are several miles deep. This would lessen by so 
many miles the thickness of the crust, and render down- 
falls more frequent. Naturally, the near-by coasts vi- 
brate with earthquakes whenever the submarine down- 
falls occur.” 

“You have hit the nail on the head,” exclaimed the 
Professor. “That is my theory, exactly. By the way, 
the Japanese are the world’s closest students of Seismic 


137 


A Tlirilliiig Tale of the Tropics 

Science. Quakes are so common in Japan that their op- 
portunities of investigation are far ahead of those of any 
other country.’^ 

“That accounts for their flocking to Hawaii in such 
big colonies/’ said Russell. “The quakes remind them 
of their native land, and are a cure both for home- 
sickness and ennui. They can sing to their children, 
^What is home without an earthquake ?’ ” 

“Now, Mr. Alexis,” said Rollo, “please tell us what 
a volcano is, and the cause of its eruptions.” 

“Well, this phenomena is not so easy to explain as 
earthquakes. But I have noticed that nearly all volca- 
noes are situated near the sea. You almost never hear 
of an inland volcano. I believe that volcanos are vents, 
whose funnels reach to the liquid interior of the earth. 
Now, when a downfall occurs in the bed of the ocean, 
there are fissures formed in the crust, through which the 
seawater and marine ooze are precipitated into the super- 
heated liquid rock. The water turns to steam, which is 
forced along beneath the crust to the nearest volcano 
funnel. My theory is that grooves or inverted ravines 
have been formed on the under side of the crust, con- 
verging toward the volcano funnel, just as valleys de- 
scend the mountain side and convey away the surplus 
water. This hypothesis is proved, I believe, by the fol- 
lowing facts: After Mt. Pelee’s eruption in Martinique, 
the bed of the ocean was found to have sunk materially. 
The same thing happened in the Straits of Sunda, when 
Kra-ka-toa exploded. In both cases, enormous quanti- 
ties of hot mud were thrown out, as well as pumice stone 
and white cinders, both of which are a product of hot 
lava and sea water. You remember when Mt. Pelee ex- 
ploded, a few minutes later a tidal wave swept into the 
harbor. That was caused by the in-rush of water when 
the ocean bed gave way — some- twenty-five or fifty miles 
away. This subsidence of the ocean was proved by 


138 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

soundings made by the corps of marine engineers in 
charge of a cable repair ship. They were sent at once 
to restore the broken communication.” 

“Professor,” said Russell, “have you ever known a 
downthrow earthquake to take place in Hawaii?” 

“Only once, and that was during the severe eruption 
of 1868. The extreme southwestern end of the island 
appeared to drop several feet. I can prove this to you by 
a break running parallel to Mauna Loa from the crater 
of Kilauea into Ka-u, some twenty or thirty miles. At 
some points, one edge of this crevice fell twenty feet 
below the other.” 

“Then there is a stone church in Puna district, on 
the coast. This once stood at a distance inland ; now it 
is entirely under the waters of the bay. This was the 
only very severe earthquake known in Hawaii’s his- 
tory. I do not look for another downfall for at least 
two hundred years.” 

“Does it take that long for a dangerous bubble to 
form?” asked Rollo. 

“Yes, that seems to be the minimum. The first down- 
throw at Kingston, Jamaica, was in 1692. The first 
destruction of Valparaiso was in 1730.” 

“And why do they always seem to take place under a 
populous city?” inquired Russell. 

“They do not. There are many downfalls taking place 
in sparsely settled countries which, though just as se- 
vere, are not noticed, because so little damage to life and 
property results.” 

“Prof. Alexis,” said Mr. Hadley, “I have heard so 
much about the eruption of Kra-ka-toa, as being the 
most violent of all known disasters, that I wish you 
would give us a short account of it.” 

“With pleasure. Kra-ka-toa, or what remains of it, 
is a small volcanic island in the Straits of Sunda, be- 
tween Java and Sumatra. For hundreds of years the 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 139 

fire forces had been slumbering, and a dense tropical 
forest had covered the islet. It was in the month of 
August, 1883, that it became very active, but little 
attention was paid to it, until, suddenly, the ocean bed 
around it seemed to give way and subside, and a huge 
tidal wave swept inland over the adjacent coasts. Some 
large ships and steamers were carried up-country and 
stranded. The sea inundated the crater, and the island 
was nearly torn to pieces by the most terrific explosions 
ever known in the history of the world. Thirty thousand 
people were destroyed in the vicinity, either by hot mud 
and pumice stone, or were swept to sea by the tidal 
waves.” 

‘"But,” said Mr. Hadley, '‘were not the reports exag- 
gerated by the Javanese, who are a half-civilized race 
and addicted to fairy tales?” 

“Perhaps so. But so astounding were the reports 
that the British government appointed a commission of 
scientists to investigate them, and gather exact and re- 
liable data. They spent a year, and published a large 
volume of well proven facts and figures. They ascer- 
tained that the detonations were so violent that the re- 
sulting air vibrations encircled the zvorld tzvice. This 
was shown conclusively by the records of many scientific 
stations in all parts of the world. It was also proven 
that the explosions were heard by the naked ear at points 
as far from the Straits of Sunda as three thousand miles, 
such as Manilla, Rangoon, Calcutta, the Island of 
Rodriguez, in the Indian Ocean. Furthermore, rocks, 
scoria, and ashes were hurled up from the bowels of the 
earth to an elevation variously estimated at from ten 
to twenty-seven miles, and such vast quantities of pumice 
stone, that in nearby bays it floated on the water several 
feet thick, while ships at sea sailed through hundreds 
of miles of floating pumice ejecta, several inches in 
depth. In Batavia, the capital, a hundred miles distant, 


140 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

all the windows were broken by the concussions, but, 
strange to say, very little earth vibration was noticed. 
This goes to prove my theory that quakes are caused by 
downthrows, and not by subterranean steam and vapor, 
as some claim. It is very hard to believe that a little 
pent-up steam and gas causes the undulation of millions 
of square miles of a solid crust of ten to fifty miles in 
thickness.’’ 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


141 


CHAPTER XIII. 

Keawe Tells the Exciting Story of the Great Mud-Flow. — 
Capt. Brown’s Tale of his Lost Ranch. — Boomguy Shows the 
Bullock-Catchers Some Cowboy Tricks. — Mr. Oudinot’s Hasty- 
Pudding Fog.— The Gun that Could Shoot around a Hill.— 
Stromboli Breaks the Record in Sharp-Shooting. — Valley where 
the Hens Lay Hard-Boiled Eggs. — Mr. Oudinot Crosses the 
Pacific on a Tidal Wave. 

S they started from their elevated camp 
ground the next morning, the Professor' 
called their attention to the southwestern 
end of the island, between Kilauea crater 
and the sea, about fifty miles distant, a 
district somse thirty miles long, and as 
many wide, black -and fire-blasted, seamed with vast 
crevasses, studded with cones and craters, the play- 
ground 'of the volcano demons, and the scene of fre- 
quent eruptions of lava, and many underground fire 
streams. 

'‘Almost every five or ten years,” said Mr. Alexis, “a 
lava flow bursts from the ground with terrific force, 
and makes its way very rapidly to the sea, ten or twenty 
miles away.” 

“It must be very interesting for the dwellers in the 
coast villages,” said Rollo. 

“Yes, indeed. Between the tidal waves from the ocean, 
and the fire waves from the mountain, they can sing 
with much zest a song written by one of our Island 
humorists.” 

‘A life on the tidal wave, 

A home by the Volcano River, 

Where the fire imps wiggle their tails, 

And terra firma’s all in a quiver.’ 



l42 AdventiTres of Kollo in Hawaii 

“But even tidal waves and lava flows may become 
monotonous, so the entertainment was varied on the 2nd 
of April, 1868, by a mud flow near Kapapala.” 

“And where would Mauna Loa get the mud?” asked 
Mr. Hadley. “We have encountered so far only a well 
drained country.” 

“It was from a steep slope, heavily wooded, where 
the misty rains kept the ground well soaked. As near 
as I can estimate front the account of eye witnesses, it 
traveled three miles in less than five minutes, and in 
ten minutes all was still, with hundreds of cattle, horses 
and goats buried twenty to fifty feet beneath the red bog, 
and thirty-one men and women and children. Keawe, 
here, was one of the few who escaped from the village, 
which lay directly in its path. Tell us the story, Keawe, 
in your own language, and I will translate it for the 
boys.” 

“I was only fifteen then,” said the guide. “For many 
days there had been frequent earthquakes; the ground 
was in a constant flutter of motion, and we knew not 
where the river of fire might break out of the ground. 
On that night the quakes came in quick succession, one 
almost overlapping another ; the young men took turns, 
watching on a knoll of rising ground near the village. 
The sky was black with clouds, and the air full of sul- 
phur fumes and vapors from the summit crater. It was 
like the darkness in Egypt, which could be felt. Now 
and then yellow gleams, like lightning flashes, came down 
from the mountain, and we knew they reflected the fire 
fountains, playing for away on Mauna Loa. Verily, the 
hand of God was laid heavily on his people in that 
night.” 

“Suddenly the earth was rocked with more violence 
than ever, and the trees bent and swept the ground, first 
on one side and then on the other. The earth swelled 


143 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

like waves in the ocean, and we were cast on our faces, 
for our limbs gave way like the falling of water. 

“Then we heard directly up the steep mountain a 
terrible commotion that made our hearts grow chill. 
It was the breaking of cliffs and the clashing together of 
great rocks. There was a roar withal as if of mighty 
waters. The ground appeared to sink away under us. 

“ ‘Fly to the east/ shouted our leader, ‘the lava flow is 
upon us. In a few seconds it will sweep the valley !’ 

“I could hear the women screaming and the men yell- 
ing in the village. I started to help my mother and 
sisters, but a huge round boulder galloping down the 
mountain just missed me. I turned and ran to the east, 
hoping to clear the path of the coming disaster. I knew 
it was not a lava flow, for the night grew blacker and 
blacker. Fortunately some one in the village had the 
presence of mind to set fire to a thatched shed. This 
gave us some light, otherwise not a soul would have es- 
caped. I scrambled over logs and rocks on hands and 
knees. Beyond the knoll was a depression. Here I en- 
countered a mob of cattle and horses, running around 
in a huddle on the edge of a low cliff, wild with fright 
and fear. I called the name of my mare, who happened 
to be among them, and she came to me, trembling and 
whinnying, followed by two donkeys. Scarce had I 
mounted her when I heard two maidens scream to me. 
They were my sister and sweetheart, just returning from 
the next village. I grasped the hand of the latter. She 
leaped behind me, and I bolted onto a donkey, my sister 
mounting the other. Then the race of life and death 
began. As we glanced behind us we saw an avalanche of 
earth strike the herd and hurl them, cattle bellowing and 
horses screaming, over the cliff. Beyond the cliff a mighty 
torrent of mud, rocks and trees swept, a mile wide, down 
the slope and onto the plain. Hardly a living thing in 
its pathway escaped. - 


144 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

'‘Over the rough ground we sped, leaping gullies and 
vaulting over rocks. The air was full of flying stones. 
Nearer and nearer came the wallowing, roaring death be- 
hind us, but now we emerged into the road to Hilo, and 
our animals doubled their pace. We could hear the 
awful thuds, as the mudflow leaped over the cliffs and 
fell into ravines. 

“ ‘We are lost,’ cried my sister. ‘See, the flow crosses 
the road before us.’ 

“ ‘No ! we may be saved yet,’ returned my betrothed. 
‘Dismount, Keawe, and lead our animals up this old 
cone.’ 

“She was right; the mud swept by us on all sides. 
We remained safe on a little island, as it were. In ten 
minutes after the first alarm, all was quiet as a grave. 
Even the earth had ceased from trembling and the moon 
rose on a stilly waste of death. We spent the night in 
tears and prayers. On the morrow, after searching in 
vain for our loved ones, we found that our father, 
mother, two sisters and two brothers had perished 
in an instant. One human soul was rescued by us. A 
mother had almost reached the edge of the flow, when 
the mud engulfed her. She held her babe aloft. We 
found it still alive, clutched by the fingers of the dead. 
That babe is now a noble woman, my adopted daughter, 
a teacher in a school for girls. I weep to relate these 
sad things, but my tears are not all of sorrow. The 
Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away; blessed be the name 
of the Lord!” 

“Was that the first and only mudflow ever known in 
Hawaii?” asked Rollo. 

“Yes,” said Mr. Alexis; “and we may hope it was 
the last one. It was an unexplainable freak of nature. 
My theory is that the many earthquakes so shattered 
the substrata of rocks under the soft earth, that the most 
vigorous shock set the whole slope in motion, and the 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 145 

several declivities over which it careened, gave it an ir- 
resistible momentum. At almost the same time a tidal 
wave, forty to sixty feet high, swept the adjacent coast.” 

“And did that wind up the hostilities?” asked Rus- 
sell. 

“By no means. The earthquakes continued with in- 
creased violence. Then five days later came the climax. 
I will tell you the story of it, as related by Captain 
Brown, a ranchman of Kau, twenty miles west of the 
mudflow. He was considered one of the wealthiest of 
the island’s citizens, owning thousands of cattle and 
horses. In a few hours everything was swept away but 
a large family of children. Here is his thrilling tale, 
as he gave it to me: 

“ We were camping in a tent by the fside of our 
dwelling house, which had been nearly demolished by 
the three weeks’ spell of earthquakes. Just after sun- 
down came the most diabolical jerk of all, and a fright- 
ful splitting and buzzing noise on the mountain slope 
just above the ranch. We rushed out and saw, not 
three miles up the mountain, a huge rent that had opened 
more than a mile long, and four fountains leaped into 
the air, as nearly as I can estimate, from five hundred 
to one thousand feet. Even as we glanced, we saw the 
fire river of white metal beginning to plunge down the 
slope directly toward us. The rent occurred in a beau- 
tiful forest, and as the dazzling river emerged, it spread 
out fan-shaped and divided into four streams. The 
humming of the escaping steam and liquids sounded to 
me like the buzzing of a thousand sawmills in the full 
tide of manufacture. The fountains threw immense red 
rocks high in the air, and the torrent, as it leaped the 
declivities, carried away cliffs, forest trees, big boulders, 
old cones and little hills, leveling every obstacle with 
irresistible fury. The native attendants were panic- 
stricken and started for a hill near the house, but I 


146 


Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 


commanded them and my family to follow me. Taking 
my sick child in^my arms, I started down into a ravine 
east of the house. I estimated that the fire river would 
first fill up the ravine and the delay would enable us by 
hard running to reach higher ground. And so it proved. 
We scrambled over rocks, gullies, ledges and through 
thickets. Meanwhile the roar of the torrent was coming 
nearer, and it poured over a precipice only a few rods 
away into the ravine, before we reached the opposite 
side. We were saved as by a miracle ; for as we labored 
desperately up the further bank, the white avalanche 
shot past us in the ravine — so near that our clothes 
smoked from the heat. It was a river of milk, and as 
dazzling as the sun. Then followed an immense wall of 
rocks and debris forced along by the rising flood be- 
hind; the sickening grinding crash, with the air around 
laden with sulphur fumes, made us feel that the day of 
judgment was at hand. 

“ ‘We reached the rising ground and found that for 
the present we were safe. Looking back we could see - 
our hacienda burning, and the whole beautiful ranch 
disappearing under the oncoming river of pa-hoe-hoe. 

By the white light, almost equaling that of the sun, we 
saw herds of cattle and horses, insane with fright, 
rapidly being licked up by the remorseless waves of fire. 

A puff of steam and smoke, and presto ! they were in- 
stantly cremated as a drop of water vanishes on a red- 
hot iron. While we were looking we were joined, to 
our surprise, by the old family horse, with tail and 
mane singed off, and covered by froth. We found the 
end of his trailing lariat burned away. The lava had 
released him by burning the rope from a tree, and he 
had, like ourselves, escaped by hard running, crossing 
the ravine in front of the torrent. 

“ ‘Before morning the flow entered the sea, ten miles 
away. The war between fire and water was terrific. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 147 

The lava exploded into fine black sand, and after filling 
the bay, this was piled up for miles like great hills of 
gunpowder. The very day of this eruption in Ka-u, 
nearly all the fires in Kilauea sank out of sight, and re- 
mained away for nearly a 3 ^ear, much to the regret and 
alarm of the good people of Hawaii. They take as 
much pride in the possession of the largest known ac- 
tive crater in the universe as the Swiss take in owning 
the Alps, the most famous mountains. You may be 
sure there was great rejoicing when Kilauea returned 
to her pristine activity, and Pele resumed business at 
the old stand.’ ” 

“Hi !” cried Rollo, suddenly, “there’s a big herd of 
wild cattle down the ravine there. Don’t you hear the 
bulls bellow and the wild dogs yelp?” 

“Only half wild,” returned Mr. Alexis. “They be- 
long to the great ranches of Ainepo and Kapapala, be- 
tween here and yon blue Pacific. These ranches are 
watered by the hundreds of square miles of clouds and 
mist which float up from the ocean every afternoon and 
drench the mountain flanks with drizzles and dews.” 

Ainepo was reached about noon. Already dense cold 
mists had invaded the forests and ravines of the high 
table land. 

“This fog is so thick that you could cut it off in 
slices,” cried Russell. “It’s the real pea soup variety 
that they talk about in ’Frisco. Hello! here’s the haci- 
enda, a big log cabin, some grass houses, and oh 1 Rollo, 
a big corral built of pa-hoe-hoe slabs. It’s full of vicious- 
looking bullgcks, a half dozen mounted Spanish and 
Portuguese vaqueros, swinging their lariats, — I smell 
burning hair. Yes, it s a round-up and branding day.” 

They were met at the door by a stalwart Scotchman, 
wearing a red beard, woolen shirt, sombrero, and a belt 
with a long hunting knife and revolver attached to it. 
Though only mildly fierce in aspect, in this attire he 


148 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


might have posed to perfection as a West India pirate. 
He gave the party a courteous and a hearty welcome, 
with many questions as to the success of their trip to 
Moku-aweo-weo. “E^st in time, gentlemen; this is a 
festa day with my Spaniolas ; dinner at two ; roasted wild 
boar's head, baked suckling pig, mountain turkey stuffed 
with wild peas, served with guava jelly and stewed 
pohas (cape gooseberries). By the way, there's another 
party here, — just back; — couldn't get to the summit 
crater, — lost in the a-a, — almost froze to death. Here, 
Mr. Oudinot," he shouted, as he entered the main room 
of the rough but comfortable mountain house, “are your 
friends, Prof. Alexis and company, buried alive under 
the lava flow two weeks, as Hiwahiwa told us yester- 
day. Sit down by the fire to dry. I’ll take the boys out 
to see the branding.” 

As they reached the corral they were joined by 
Boomguy, who was eager to take a hand in the lasso- 
ing. The vaqueros welcomed him as an old mountain 
man. In a trice he was seated astride of a wiry 
bullock horse, having adjusted a red bandana to his 
neck and shoulders, so that it would flutter behind him. 
As one vaquero would “cut out” a yearling, darting like 
an antelope from the struggling and swirling herd, and 
had launched his long noose onto its horns or neck, 
Boomguy's lasso would speed like a flash of lightning 
under its belly, and in a twinkling the creature was 
caught by the hind legs and jerked prone in the dust, 
stretched out between the two horses. Then Boomguy 
would dismount, dexterously loop together all four feet, 
and making a dash for the branding iron, bring it red- 
hot from the charcoal brasier near-by. When this was 
applied to the creature’s flank, its pitiful bellows would 
often enrage its mother, or a red-eyed bull, and Boom- 
guy’s lurid bandana would then be the target of a vicious 
and meteor-like charge, The daredevil’s favorite escape 


149 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

was to a low tree standing near, from whose over- 
hanging branches he would drop astride the animal 
while it pawed the dust in fury. Then, plunging his long 
Mexican spurs into its flanks, he would be carried round 
and round the open end of the corral, cracking his big 
bullock whip, encored by the delighted yells of the va- 
queros, the careening of the brute being accelerated by 
the yelps and nips of their savage dogs. 

After the promised banquet of mountain delicacies, 
eaten by the tourists and vaqueros in democratic simplicity 
and unison at one table, all the travelers joined in com- 
paring notes before the open fireplace. 

“Oudinot,” said Mr. Gandle, the Scotchman, ‘T don’t 
believe you have ever seen any heavier fog than we have 
here today. I barrel up some of it every day, and as it 
condenses it keeps us in' fresh water.” 

“I can assure you, Gandle, that your fog on Mauna 
Loa is simply as tenuous as ether when compared with 
that which is found in Waimanu Valley, near Kohala. 
You will remember the valley is like a funnel, with its 
mouth to the winward ; the fog is forced into the smaller 
end so compactly that it almost solidifies. I was hunt- 
ing once for sandalwood, with some friends, on a decliv- 
ity of the valley. A fierce shower of rain caused a 
freshet which washed away the. only path by which we 
could retrace our steps. So thick and black did this fog 
now come up the valley in a few minutes, that we en- 
tered a cave and sat in its mouth to await the return of 
daylight. Suddenly there was an earthquake, and we 
were jarred oflf from the rock, and a minute or two later 
struck, in a sitting position, a hundred feet below, in an 
empty taro patch, leaving an impression nearly two feet 
deep in the plastic mud. The next day I found, with a 
theodolite, that the taro patch was exactly under the 
rock we had dropped from. The fog, therefore, being 


150 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

nearly as thick as hasty pudding, retarded our velocity 
and saved our lives.” 

“I would like to remark right here, gentlemen,” said 
Mr. Gandle, “that Mr. Oudinot has resided nearly all 
his life in these Islands, and his range of experience 
has been very wide and of great value to science. He 
operates a fine little sugar plantation at Lahaina, and is 
one of our most highly respected citizens. It would 
grieve me exceedingly to have even a shadow of scepti- 
cism thrown over the facts which he relates. By the 
way, Oudinot, did you ever succeed in bagging that wild 
bull you told me evaded you so cleverly on the uplands 
of Waimea? I see you still cling to that famous rifle 
you named Stromboli.” 

“Oh! yes,” returned Mr. Oudinot. “You will recol- 
lect that bull always hung around a cone hill on Mauna 
Kea, and whenever I drew a bead on him he darted 
around it with such velocity that Stromboli never could 
wing him. Well, one day, after missing him twice, I 
got so mad I vowed I’d come a little science on him. I 
noticed the hill was almost exactly round, and I paced 
its circuit very accurately. Then I went to a blacksmith 
in Waimea and had him adjust Stromboli’s barrel ex- 
actly to the curve of the hill. Next day I started that 
bull up in the very same spot, and he vanished double-' 
quick around that cone, but this time Stromboli had 
been doctored to suit his case. Bang went the gun, and 
he was no sooner out of sight than around the hill ' he 
came and passed me like a cannon ball. I heard the 
bullet still a-whizzing in the air. Then he kept on at a 
meteor pace and. Great Jehosaphat! he came back a 
second time and dropped dead in front of me. I found 
the bullet in his brain.” 

“And why is that any more difficult than to throw a 
curved base ball?” exclaimed Russell. 

“And, moreover,” suggested Professor Alexis, “the 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 151 

moon is held in a circular orbit by the attraction of the 
earth. Why could not a bullet be held in an orbit for 
two or three revolutions by a high, round hill? By the 
way, Oudinot, Stromboli’s length is all out of propor- 
tion. Why not have the barrel shortened?” 

“Ah! that would spoil the range. You’d be surprised 
at the distance that gun will carry. Only last month I 
was hunting on the winward side of Maui. I saw a 
white bullock on a far-off hillside, and at a venture 
drew a bead with Stromboli. With my spyglass I saw 
that my aim had been exact. We traveled over rough 
ground and canyons that day and the next, and on the 
second morning secured the bullock. But, gentlemen, 
when we reached our game, mortification had already set 
in — we only saved the hide.” 

“A most valuable gun, certainly,” returned the Pro- 
fessor. “By the way, I see by the papers that you have 
just returned from a trip to the Phillipines and Japan. 
Did you meet with any adventures worth recounting while 
on your visit to the Orient?” 

“Some very warm weather in Japan; and, let’s see — 
oh ! we encountered a tidal wave on our way from Hono- 
lulu to Manilla.” 

“Do tell us about them,” exclaimed Candle. “We 
don’t get much news up here on Mauna Loa.” 

“With pleasure,” continued Mr. Oudinot. “It was 
August when we ascended the volcano Fuji-yama. The 
day we came down was fearfully hot, and our road 
lay through a short valley by the seaside, surrounded 
by high cliffs. These seemed to focus the heat toward a 
small lagoon, in-letting from the ocean. The rocks at 
noonday were so heated that they charred the soles of 
our shoes. A fisherman was landing a sampan full of 
lobsters, not the ordinary color ; they were boiled red by 
the heated waters. My dog here and the two Chinese 
servants plunged into the water for a swim, but in a few 


152 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

seconds beat a retreat. The setter, as you see him here, 
entirely hairless, and the Celestials completely bald- 
headed. I have it from the best authority that the hens 
in that valley laid hard-boiled eggs, the cows gave 
custard instead of milk, the sugarcane in the fields turned 
to stick candy, tree stumps became charcoal ; the very 
pigs perspired lard and their squeal was so dried up 
that it reminded you of breaking window glass — ” 

“Excuse me,” said Mr. Candle, “but you mentioned 
a tidal wave; when did that encounter your steamer?” 

“About five hundred miles west of Honolulu. Very 
suddenly the ship began to revolve like a top, and the 
horizon commenced to climb toward the zenith. The 
captain begged the passengers not to be alarmed, for it 
was merely the breaking out of a submarine volcano, and 
the steamer could not possibly go lower than the bed of 
the ocean. Then the bow and stern were jerked vio- 
lently up and down, see-sawing as if a big sperm whale 
had got the craft by the nape of the neck, and was yank- 
ing about fourteen different kinds of particular fits out 
of her. So severe was the agitation that the donkey- 
engine was bowled overboard and the poor donkey 
drowned. 

“The horizon now subsided with dizzy rapidity, and 
we saw a huge green bank in the east, rising up like a 
long high mountain. ‘All hands 'bout ship, and square 
away due west!’ yelled the captain. Immediately the 
propellers churned the ocean around them into a froth, 
till it resembled the top of a newly-drawn stein of beer, 
and the steamer started ahead on the jump. The tidal 
wave, for that it was, overhauled us in a few minutes. 
‘By the jumping John Rogers, I’m going to run the old 
tub front of that tidal wave, Neptune ivilling, plumb into 
Manila, and break the record of crossing the Pacific,’ 
exclaimed the captain. ‘I’ll do it or smash the engine 
into everlasting scrap-iron.’ 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 153 


“And he came very near doing it, too; for this tre- 
mendous billow drove us along in front of it at the rate 
of a hundred and fifty miles an hour, just as you are 
propelled in front of a breaker on a surf board. I verily 
believe we would have been carried to Luzon, if the 
soft-hearted captain had not stopped to rescue a Kanaka 
family out of the top of a cocoanut tree.” 

“What in the world were they doing in a cocoanut 
tree in mid-ocean ?” exclaimed Russell, his eyes wide open 
with wonder. 

“Nothing easier,” returned Mr. Oudinot. “From their 
coral island they saw the big wave coming, and climbed 
the hundred-foot tree before it swept over. The wahine 
had saved her Easter bonnet, her baby and a pet pig. 
She leaped aboard; but the Kanaka refused to budge. 
He had just bought a new cook stove, the only one on 
the island, and was bound to go back after it. We 
found, on figuring up, that the ship made i,8oo miles 
that day, and didn’t half try. A week later she steamed 
into Manila Bay, eight days ahead of her schedule.” 


“Russell,” said Rollo that night, “uncle has agreed to 
spend several days with Professor Alexis in exploring 
Kilauea crater and vicinity. Now, we have had enough 
volcano adventure just for the present, and I asked his 
permission to join Mr. Oudinot’s party, who will spend 
several days in the big valleys of Wai-pio and Wai- 
manu.” 

“That will suit me, exactly,” exclaimed Russell. “And 
say, Rollo, if Barney goes with us, we may get a chance 
to penetrate into that wonderful Emerald Valley.” 

“You are right. Minelulu, in her letters to Barney, 
speaks of Wai-manu as a haunt of the priest, Hiwa-hiwa. 
If he can be found there, he may guide us into Pahuh, 


154 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

and well explore its mysteries and get a glimpse of 
Barney’s princess.” 

‘And perhaps run into that ignis fatuus hoard of 
opium again,” added Russell. 

“Oh, sugar! That was destroyed when our pepper- 
box cavern blew up on Mauna Loa.” 

“Don’t be so sure of it. I’ll just wager you a big 
cocoanut that opium will bob up serenely sometime and 
somewhere. It’s too wicked and costly stuff to vanish 
suddenly and forever. But what did uncle say?” 

“He made no objections. So if you are ready we can 
reach Hilo tomorrow night, and Wai-pio two days 
later.” 

The ride down the mountain from Ainepo to the vol- 
cano house was full of interest to the boys. They passed 
through great patches of dead forest, whose trees were 
draped with long moss, hanging like a shroud around a 
corpse. Then came tedious lava fields and scoria deserts, 
varied with wide' stretches where the rich volcanic sand 
and cinders forced the mountain grass and shrubs into 
wild luxuriance, and afforded fat pasturage for herds of 
half-wild cattle, goats and boar. Occasionally they 
caught sight of shy deer and vanishing antelopes. In 
the denser woods were wild turkeys, partridges and 
quail, who throve on the ohelos and akalas (mammoth 
huckleberries and raspberries). As they neared Kila- 
uea they encountered ravines and canyons, black with the 
action of recent fire, and almost trackless wastes of pa- 
hoe-hoe and a-a. Toward the ocean they could see hun- 
dreds of square miles south of the crater — a fire-riven 
wilderness, seamed with crevasses and old lava flows, 
pock-marked with little craters, sulphur beds, cones and 
clinker-fields, the playground of Pele, where for ages 
steam, volcano smoke and underground fire rivers have 
held continuous high carnival. 

They spent the night at the Volcano House, from 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 155 

which they could see the glowing fires of Kilauea and its 
huge chasm a thousand feet deep and nine miles in cir- 
cumference. 

“This is the first civilized bed we have slept in for 
weeks/’ said Rollo. “But to be frank With you, Rus- 
sell, I’m more and more charmed with this wild life, 
and I propose to you when we reach Wai-pio, we adapt 
ourselves still further to tropical usage ; dress in shirt, 
belt and trousers, sleep in a thatched house, on lan-hala 
(pandanus) mats, eat fish, poi, squid and shrimps; in 
short, sample the real life of the Kanakas, Japs and 
Chinese ; of course, keeping at all times within the 
proprieties.” 

“Agreed,” cried Russell. “Only I’m a trifle dubious 
about raw fish and squid, and baked dog.” 

From the volcano to Hilo the road was excellent. It 
passed over many smooth lava fields, through dense 
tropical forests, past rich coffee and sugar and pineapple 
plantations, pretty villages of the Chinese and Japanese, 
built in quaint and Oriental style, with bamboo frames 
and thatched roofs. Far away to the right were the 
roys.tering billows of the Pacific, hurling themselves, now 
with a lover’s murmer, and again with the fury of pas- 
sion against the low pa-hoe-hoe cliffs that had encroached 
upon their domain. 

This was the district of Puna, where soft dreamy airs 
floated inland, laden with the fragrance of a million flow- 
ers ; where the rich volcanic mould, black with fertility, 
set all the forces of nature to producing a phantasma- 
goria of luxuriance. Suddenly the scene would change, 
and the tourists imagined themselves in a forest of by- 
gone ages; they were surrounded by cycads and tree 
ferns from fifteen to thirty feet high. Palms and cocoa- 
nuts of fabulous size struggled to overtop each other in 
mid-air. Now came groves of pandanus trees, resemb- 


156 Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 

ling green balloons, attached to the earth by aerial roots , 
then followed orchards of huge fronded wild bananas 
and plantains, themselves the very acme of wanton tropi- 
cal luxuriance. 



A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


157 


CHAPTER XIV. 


Complicity in Smufferlingr Rollo 

Simple Life in iftfl Hawaiian 
Night with the Fishermen. — Jim Hicks 
the Moonshiner, Tells some Dreadful Things about the Mis- 
sionaries^— ^ollo Treats Jim Hicks to a Surprise Party 

Sunday School among the Savages. 


HE next morning the boys were seated on 
the hotel veranda, and gazed upon the 
beautiful town, a bower of palms, ba- 
nanas and passion flowers. “Oh, Rollo ! 
just look at this Hilo paper of day before 
yesterday. It has the whole account of 
our being trapped by the lava flow, and the blowing up 
of Captain Cook’s grotto, written in the most extrava- 
gant and sensational style. How on earth could the re- 
porters have gotten hold of it? We all agreed not to 
relate the story until our return to Honolulu.” 

“It certainly is incomprehensible,” returned Rollo, 
“but I suspect Mr. Oudinot is the guilty party. It reflects 
the same Baron Munchausen style that seems to ani- 
mate the most of his stories. He wormed it out of 
Boomguy in some way. Why, just think! it was printed 
before we left Ainepo. There’s no telegraph there. It 
must have been telephoned in. They have ’phones every- 
where. Hello, again ! Here’s a pretty how-de-do ! In 
this morning’s paper — Barmy Morrissey arrested by 
Sheriff Lorin Anderson for being accessory to the smug- 
gling of a hundred thousand dollars' worth of opium. 
Released on bail, on condition that he will discover its 
hiding place within sixty days I And what’s this ? Hor- 
rors ! The police looking for a Chinaman named Ah 
Sin, supposed to be one of the dangerous gang of muti- 



158 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

neers who gutted the bark Fay Yan, and decamped with 
the smuggled opium. That’s our S puny am, Rollo ! and 
if we don’t get out of town in about two jerks of a 
porpoise tail, as Mr. Bates expressed it, we’ll be pestered 
to death with this detestable notoriety. Here comes 
Barney up the walk now, as white as a ghost. He can 
saddle our horses, and the rest of the party can catch up 
with us at Onomea Plantation. Hello, Barney! we hear 
you’ve been courting. Paying attentions to the Princess 
of Paliuli, eh? Or is it one of Pe.e’s houris of Kilauea 
that’s got you into trouble this time ?” 

“Bedad, an’ it’s nayther of thim damsels, your excel- 
lencies, but it was the armorer’s daughter I came within 
an inch uv kissin’ the minit I set me fut in this blissid 
town yesternight. Me heart goes pitipat now, wid the 
suddintness uv that same catastrophe I” 

“The armorer’s daughter 1” echoed Russell. “Yes, I 
was sure there must be a lady in the case.” 

“Barney means a flogging,” explained Rollo. “On 
board a man o’ war, ‘kissing the armorer’s daughter,’ 
means that interesting tho’ painful flirtation with the 
cat-o-nine tails a sailor carries on, while lashed to a big 
cannon’s breech, for disobeying orders. Tell us all the 
details, Morrissey.” 

But the Irishman shook his head and mysteriously whis- 
pered, “The sheriff’s tied me tongue; but we’ll know all 
about it whin we find Minelulu and the owld praste. It’s 
the dhirty yellow baste of a Spunyarn as is making us 
all this trouble. The sheriff’s towld me the opium was 
nather blown up nor burned up, whin the pepper-box 
wint skylarkin’ into everlasting smithereens. How in 
hivin’s name cud he find out that same, onless he be on 
the phone wid the divil himself, through the helpin’ of 
that ugly spalpeen of a Chinee? An’ I’ve another of thim 
swate billy-du’s from Minelulu, a-tellin’ me as how to 
bring you two into the Valley; an’ she hez a big sur- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 159 

prise to spring on us. She got the letter I sint her from 
Honolulu.” 

“Good, Barney!” cried Russell, “saddle up, and let us 
be off for Wai-pio and the Emerald Valley/' 

“This country between Hilo and Wai-pio,” said Mr. 
Oudinot, after his party had caught up with the boys, 
“I veritably believe presents the most beautiful scenery, 
the grandest and most enchanting landscapes of any land 
on the earth. The variety of its enchantments and in- 
teresting features are simply bewildering.” 

“There seems to be a continuous and endless succes- 
sion of charming gulches and ravines,” said Rollo, “how 
many are there?” 

“About sixty-nine of these extraordinary chasms with- 
in thirty miles of Hilo. From these canyons and precipi- 
tous cliffs jutting on the ocean, the district is called Hilo- 
pali-ku (Hilo of the beetling precipices). From this 
serrated wall, jutting on the smiling Pacific, this paradise 
of beauty and tropical voluptuousness sweeps back gently 
to the upper timber line of Mauna Kea, whose sparkling 
snows beam down upon sixty miles of this beauteous 
dreamland. From far back in the mountain heights 
come the silvery streams in nearly every valley, dashing 
with a thousand rainbows over a thousand ledges, into 
hundreds of the deep limpid basins which are strung upon 
their path to the bays, like pearls upon a necklace.” 

“And how many waterfalls are there on this one 
mountain side?” asked Russell. 

“Ask the clouds and winds that feed them,” returned 
Mr. Oudinot. “No one knows. Some of them are yet 
strangers to the human eye. Like the stars of the firma- 
ment the silvery cascades of Hilo-pali-ku have never yet 
been counted. 

“Here now is a sample scene in this bewildering Beu- 
lah-land. We are 600 feet above sea level, yet it looks 


160 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

as if you could almost toss an orange into the surf dash- 
ing on the rocks. The green canefields break off abrupt- 
ly into the cliff-bound valley, whose level bottom is cov- 
ered with velvet lawns, taro patches and gardens, a smil- 
ing village of thatched houses and bamboo cottages. 
These are embowered with palms and cocoanuts, bread- 
fruit trees and oranges, big leaved bananas and ohias (na- 
tive apples), guavas and citrons, papaiyas and grape 
vines, paddle-leaved cactus, prickly pears and screw- 
fronded pandanus. Their red and golden fruits shine forth 
like stars, from the dark green of the dense foliage. Then 
look up the valley. Yonder cliffs and rocks are covered 
with one blazing mass of sky blue convolvuli (morning 
glories), brilliant passion flowers, smoke trees, lemon col- 
ored candlenut groves and a thousand other flowers and 
emerald fronds. There you see a wilderness of vines and 
ferns, hanging gardens of parasites and air plants, which 
have conspired together to hide the horrid red rocks from 
the view of man, and metamorphose that ancient hideous 
delirium of fire and desolation into this modern paradise 
of exquisite and enchanting beauty. 

^‘We read of ‘Green England’; of the ‘Land flowing 
with milk and honey’; of ‘La Belle France.’ Yet the 
boasted verdure which clothes these lands is a mere 
scanty garment of poverty compared with the rampant 
and wanton luxuriance with which nature has literally 
inundated, drowned and smothered these hills and val- 
leys and slopes.” 

“That is not an exaggeration !” cried Rollo. “We 
thought we had reached the acme of exuberant growth in 
the forests between Hilo and Mauna Loa ; but that fades 
into the background when compared with these wildwood 
slopes of Mauna Kea, the older mountain. The entangle- 
ments we see here are simply glorious.” 

“You have just commenced your ride,” continued Mr. 
Oudinot, “The coast road is fairly good, but frequently 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 161 

you no sooner scramble out of one of these abrupt can- 
yon-like valleys, than you dive into another. You can- 
ter along the uplands, fanned by the soft dreamy trade- 
wind, blowing up from the dimpling Pacific, and are sud- 
denly arrested by a dizzy precipice, over which you peer 
down into a forest-draped abyss. The muffled deep bass 
of waterfalls tells you another stream must be crossed. 
Your horse begins to pick his way gingerly down the 
sharp incline ; you think he’s going to stand on his head, 
and your feet in the stirrups almost graze his ears. He 
goes down like a goat, testing the path with one foot 
advanced, then gathering four feet under him for a slide 
and a jump to safer ground. He knows as well as you do, 
that the sheer hundred foot precipice below, means in- 
stant death if he makes a misstep. There are some bridges 
over these torrents, but many of them have to be forded ; 
and if your steed is unacquainted with the rocks in a 
torrent’s bed, you may have a chance to test the depth of 
the plunge of the waterfall next below. In a dry sea- 
son, these ravine paths are fairly safe ; but daily showers 
are the rule, and a sudden storm on Mauna Kea will 
send terrific freshets roaring down the valleys, making 
them impassable. In olden times, before there was a 
Government to build roads, the early missionaries de- 
scended into these valleys by lowering themselves from 
tree to tree with rope ladders, crossing the torrents in 
slings. They often preached to savages who had never 
seen a white man, or worn clothes. Now the whole 
region is rapidly becoming converted into rich planta- 
tions of sugar cane and coffee. You hear along the coast 
the busy hum of the huge crushing rollers and ponderous 
machinery, grinding cane. You see wooden water flumes, 
miles in length, built far into the uplands, bringing down 
ripe cane and firewood in their swift running channels.” 

As the sun dipped over Mauna Kea, they descended in- 
to the great valley of Wai-ha-lu-lu, eight hundred feet 


162 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

deep, running far into the flanks of the White Mountain. 
The party was resting under a clump of cocoa palms, eat- 
ing papaiyas and drinking cocoanut milk, when suddenly 
Barney whispered to Rollo and Russell. 

‘TVe jist met a frind of Hiwa-hiwa, and he tills me 
Paliuli is up there at the head of this valley, and he ex- 
pects the praste himself in less than a week.’’ 

‘Ts it?” exclaimed Russell. “Rollo, what say you to 
changing our destination? Is not this an ideal place to 
play Kanaka and put our simple life scheme into prac- 
tice?” 

“Couldn’t be better! Barney can find us good shelter 
with some of his friends.” 

In half an hour they had taken leave of Mr. Oudinot’s 
party, and ensconced themselves with a Hawaiian family, 
well known to the Irishman. Their home was a spacious 
house thatched with grass, standing near the little bay 
that set into the valley from the ocean. At all hours the 
dash of the surf filled their ears, and the boom of the 
breakers came in from the outside reef. Their host, 
Kaikoo (Big Surf), was a fisherman, also justice of the 
peace. His two boys, fifteen and eighteen years of age, 
assisted in raising taro and yams, which they sold to the 
nearby sugar plantations. Likapa, their mother, was a 
stout, bustling matron. She had attended the English 
school for girls at Hilo, and was looked up to as the 
leader in Waihalulu, both in society and church work. 
A long shed, thatched with pandanus and cocoanut leaves, 
adjoined the house ; under this were Kaikoo’s big canoes, 
fitted with out-riggers. Each was hewn out of the trunk 
of a single tree. A long net made of cord of olo-na (the 
strongest fibre known to man), was spread over them 
This net had sinkers of round stones and floats of bamboo 
joints. Back of the shed was a cavern under the precipice, 
and here were stored two immense canoes, each seventy 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 163 

feet in length, used only occasionally for transporting 
freight to Hilo, or from one valley to another. 

“Russell,” said Rollo, “Barney tells me Kaikoo is going 
fishing to-night with his boys;— I’ll call them Jim and 
Dan ; — I can’t pronounce their Kanaka names. What say 
you to accompanying them ?” 

“I’m your huckleberry,” cried Russell, eager for any- 
thing that promised sport ; “and look ! they are launching 
the canoes and nets now. We don’t need any more 
preparation than to take off our shoes, though the Kana- 
kas have taken off their shirts.” 

Kaikoo made no objection to the three white appren- 
tices, and the canoes soon shot through the breakers, and 
made for the open sea; but not before the, fishermen, in- 
cluding Barney, hauled off their trousers, and wielded 
the heavy paddles, clad only in the malo or loin cloth. 

“Jim and Dan tell me,” said Rollo, “that they are 
preparing to attend college at Lahaina-luna. I can’t help 
envying them. It does seem as if there were far more 
delights for a boy to enjoy in these wonderlands, than 
on the monotonous prairies, where there is nothing more 
dangerous to hunt than a woodchuck, with the nearest 
decent sized mountain a thousand miles away.”' 

“Look at Kaikoo, as he stands upright gazing seaward 
for signs of fish,” exclaimed Russell. “Isn’t that a mag- 
nificent human figure? Reminds you of Apollo Belvi- 
dere in the Metropolitan Museum of Art.” 

“Superb!” answered Rollo. “Every muscle and limb 
is a perfection of grace and majesty. Now the wind and 
waves have subsided, and we can see the coral garden, 
twenty feet below us. Look! there are big turtles and 
lobsters, crawling among the exquisite white coraline 
branches of a hundred graceful shapes; the sands and 
rocks are strewn and covered with shellfish. There are 
myriads of them, in endless variety, too, big as you hat ; 
yes, I see some monster forms like clams, only they’re 


164 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


as large as a water pail ; one old grandpa clam, the size 
of a beer keg. Ah ! here comes an octopus, stalking over 
the sand with his tentacles, four feet long; another octo- 
pus ! yes, a whole school of them ! There go a lot of cow- 
rie shells, sinking among them. Jim and Dan threw them 
out; they’re fast to a line with hooks concealed under- 
neath. The octopi close over them with their long arms. 
They must be fond of cowries. Jerk ! Snap ! Jerk ! several 
of the hideous monsters are hooked, and Jim and Dan 
yank them up, writhing and twisting, into the canoe. 
You can see the vicious eyes and ugly mouths between the 
tentacles. The sea is dyed with the black ink they eject 
from those bag-like bodies. 

‘‘Oh ! horrors ! Rollo,” yelled Russell, “a big octopus 
has seized Kaikoo and wound his horrid muscular ten- 
tacles around his arms and legs; he struggles to free 
himself ! hurry ! paddle to his rescue. Jim and Dan, 
heartless wretches ! are laughing at the death grapple. 
Great Jehosaphat ! Kaikoo is calmly biting off the suckers 
one by one. Now he throws him into the bottom of the 
canoe.” 

“Thim divils is squid, not octy pussies,” explained 
Barney ; “an’ the foinest aten in the woruld, when you’ve 
got a big calabash av poi to dhrown your squeamishness 
in.” 

“I wouldn’t taste one with the end of a ten-foot pole,” 
cried Russell. “Td just as soon eat a rattlesnake as one 
of those bags of liquid horror.” 

“A squid,” explained Rollo, “is half way between a 
cuttlefish and the man-eating octopus. They form the 
chief article of diet of the sperm-whales and sharks. By 
the Chinese, Japs and all Polynesians they are esteemed 
a great delicacy, according to Professor Alexis.” 

“And they can do all my share of the esteeming,” re- 
turned Russell. “Flash ! there goes Kaikoo’s harpoon 
high in the air, and comes down, click! into something 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


165 


hard on the water. Hurray ! Rollo, he’s got a big green 
turtle ! Speared it through his hard shell back. He was 
sleeping on the surface, — must weigh all of two hundred 
pounds.” 

With much splashing and vicious struggling, the turtle 
was hoisted in, all hands assisting, and laid on his back 
in the bottom of the canoe. Then Barney tied a stick 
between his jaws to prevent his biting their feet. Kaikoo 
now paddled into a little cove, almost surrounded by 
high rocks, where the w^ater was deep and still. 

'‘Oh! here’s a beautiful sight,” cried Russell. “Look 
over the gunwale ! opposite side from me or you’ll capsize 
the canoe ; twenty-five feet deep, — white sandy bottom ! 
Oh ! there’s the game for you 1 Lobsters and crabs, and 
big ones too ; starfish and such exquisite coral branches, — 
and there are the brain corals, — thousands of them; and 
what are those big cribs or cages of bamboo? look like 
wire rat-traps. Ha ! they’ve got lobsters and stone sink- 
ers in them, and are fastened by ropes to floats on the 
surface. Is that the way they entice the ugly bugs? As 
sure as you’re born, Rollo, there’s a dead cat in one of 
the cages. Kaikoo uses strange bait anyway. I can eat 
lobsters by the gross; but squid! wagh! excuse me! I’d 
rather dine on pickled toads.” 

“There’s something the matter with this first cage,” 
said Rollo. “Ah ! I see ; rope entangled in the rock. What’s 
Jim doing there? He has the canoe’s anchor, a large 
stone in a net, and a rope around his waist. Splash ! he’s 
dove in, head foremost, the rock carries him down like 
an arrow to the ocean bed ; now the cage is loose, and 
he’s filling it up with various pretty shell fish and coral 
branches. He breaks them off with the anchor;— some 
curios for us, Russell.” 

“I’m keeping time with my pulsebeats,” said Russell, 
“he’s two minutes under now, and — Oh ! horrors ! Quick ! 


166 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

Kaikoo! a monster white shark coming around the big 
rock there!” 

All was excitement now, for the man-eating shark is 
the most dangerous of all the animals of the Pacific 
Ocean. As the boys glanced up, they saw Jim shoot out 
of the water into the canoe. Kaikoo and Barney hoisted 
him like a rocket at the first intimation of danger. The 
boys were astonished to see Kaikoo attach the rope to his 
own waist, and taking a long, sharp machete or cane 
knife in his teeth, dive down with the assistance of the 
anchor to the spot just left by Jim. The shark made a 
lightning dash for him, but while turning over to grasp 
the Kanaka between his jaws, Kaikoo dodged under him 
and dealt a thrust with his knife, that sent the fish into 
the most violent paroxysms of agony. The brave fisher- 
man managed to slip under the man eater and drtve his 
machete into his very spinal bones. When his breath and 
strength were exhausted he signalled by a jerk on the 
rope, and was hoisted into the canoe like a shot. Again 
and again he returned to the charge, the maddened brute 
writhing in violent contortions and snapping his power- 
ful jaws. The water was dyed red with blood, and it 
made the boys shiver to see how narrowly Kaikoo es- 
caped the rows of sharp white teeth that decorated the 
brute’s mouth. 

“Do you notice,” said Rollo, “that when Kaikoo is too 
hard pressed, he lays flat on the sand and thrusts his^ 
knife upward ? Ah 1 now the shark flounders around aim- 
lessly. Do you see what has happened? Kaikoo stabbed 
out both his eyes early in the attack, and a machete thrust 
has severed his spinal cord. Only the head and fins 
continue to move.” 

Kaikoo now went down and dispatched the big fish 
with his harpoon. After the cages had been emptied of 
the captured lobsters and crabs, the shark was towed be- 
hind the canoe to the landing place near Kaikoo’s house. 


167 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

The canoes then proceeded seaward to cast the nets for 
the night fishing. Several other canoes joined them with 
additional nets, and a surround was made at the mouth 
of the harbor, nearly half a mile long. The tedious proc- 
ess of towing the two ends of the nets together now took 
place. 

“There’s a hard shower of rain and big wind coming in 
from the sea,” cried Rollo. “The Kanakas have only their 
skins to get wet, but we had better get into our rubber 
ponchos.” 

For an hour the rain poured in torrents, and the huge 
waves, propelled by the high wind, threatened to toss the 
canoes the one over the other. Then all was quiet again, 
and the moon and stars shone down on the dimpling 
waters with an intense brilliancy. Long lines of torches 
and lanterns on the, ocean indicated where the fishermen 
were toiling at their nets. 

“Are you chilly, Rollo? I’m getting hungry enough 
to relish a raw pumpkin.” 

“No, Russell, that rain, tho’ copious, was warm and re- 
freshing. There’s no such thing as chilliness at the sea- 
side in this latitude, unless your clothes are water-soaked. 
There are Jim and Dan motioning us to join them in eat- 
ing supper ; poi with raw fish and a relish of onions and 
peppers, Barney says.” 

“I can’t stomach that diet. We’ll have to be content 
with this cold sweet potato.” 

It was nearly two o’clock when the canoes landed with 
a goodly haul of fish. 

“I’m most desperately hungry,” said Russell. “It’s 
not fair to ask the boys to cook us a civilized supper after 
such a hard day’s work. Oh ! but don’t those fish smell 
good ? they’re roasting them on the coals, wrapped in ti 
leaves; plantains and bananas, too, baked in hot ashes! 
Yes, I can eat a dozen or two of them/' 

The whole family now sat down, Turkish fashion, on a 


168 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

pandanus mat in the center of the house, with numerous 
calabashes of Hawaiian delicacies before them. The cap- 
ture of the shark was an unusual event, and the Kanakas, 
among them two visitors, were in a high state of glee 
and merriment; every one was talking and laughing at 
the same time, and eating poi with two fingers. 

“Gentlemen,” put in Barney, “just thry a little cala- 
bash av poi with your baked mullets. Put plenty of salt 
and butter on the fish. This poi is the pink breed, eaten 
by the chiefs and kings; weTe just as good as thim royal 
and ancient haythens. You observe that this poi is two 
days old and has a bit of the same flavor and tartness as 
sweet cider. Ate it wid your finger, makin’ a double 
twist betwayn the calabash and your grub hopper like this. 
Spoons and forks are all right for the crowned heads av 
Europe.” 

“I think, Barney, if I could live about three hundred 
and fifty years I could learn to relish it,” returned Rus- 
sell ; “give me another cup of that delicious Kona coffee. 
That will compensate for all this unmitigated barbarism. 
Your poi don’t taste badly, but it gives me a savage in- 
stinct even now. I imagine myself already to be Hoky- 
poky Winky Wum, the King of the Cannibal Islands, 
whose frequent diet is cold missionary with Worcester- 
shire sauce, and little boy pudding for dessert. Say, Rollo, 
hunger is the best sauce after all. I believe we could 
enjoy a banquet of raw whale’s blubber of ancient vintage 
with the Esquimaux, if we fasted beforehand for, — say 
two or three hundred years. Barney, this poi don’t taste 
so very bad after all, when I shut my eyes and imagine 
it to be one of Delmonico’s new fangled French dishes. 
The mullets are superlatively delicious.” 

The interior of Kaikoo’s house was about forty feet 
long, and each end was separated as a sleeping cham- 
ber by gorgeously decorated curtains of kapa, — a native 
bark cloth. Everything was exquisitely clean and order- 


169 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

ly; for had not Likapa learned some of the arts of civili- 
zation and New England neatness while in the mission- 
ary school at Hilo? Nothing could be more comfortable 
than the native thatched home, and yet Kaikoo and his 
worthy 'spouse had constructed it with their own labor 
and nearly all the furnishings were of their own handi- 
work ; sumptuous mats, priceless kapas, curiously carved 
calabashes, and rare specimens of basket work abounded 
in profusion. Rollo and Russell were given one of the 
curtained apartments for a guest-chamber, and soon 
were lost in sleep, with heads pillowed on cushions of 
pulu, beneath laboriously made sheets of kapa. They 
had not slept more than half an hour when Russell sat 
up with a start. 

'T was dreaming,’’ quoth he, ‘‘that we were captured 
by cannibals. They had prepared a red hot oven, and 
were about to insert us in it alive, when I awoke in hor- 
ror. Rollo, I may be very foolish, but here we are, shut 
in in a lone.some valley, peopled only by races and tribes 
who but a short time ago were bloodthirsty savages, or 
bigoted heathen image worshippers. Are we not run- 
ning terrible risks by trusting ourselves defenceless in 
such doubtful company ? Who knows but what we 
might be secretly robbed or murdered for our horses and 
other valuables? What’s that, a savage death chant f 

“Hark,” said Rollo ; “listen ; the family are engaging 
in their evening devotions. What a glorious sweet voice 
that is of Likapa’s ! With Kaikoo’s deep bass and the 
tenor of the boys, — one of them is accompanying on a 
dulcet toned violin, — their melody is certainly rich and 
soul stirring. They were singing in Hawaiian, ‘Jesus, 
Lover of my Soul,’ and now they have started ‘Sweet 
Beulah Land.’ Are you not ashamed, Russell, to sus- 
pect these earnest Christian people of such hideous crimes 
as you just a minute ago suggested? I venture to say 
there is not a community in the world where our lives 


170 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


would be safer. And I don’t believe in this whole val- 
ley there is a single house protected by lock and key. 
Professor Alexis says that they are seldom needed on any 
of the Hawaiian Islands. I am going to join these good 
people in their worship. It takes me back to the old home- 
stead, and my father and mother, whose prayers went up 
for the redemption of these very people, the Polynesians, 
and we sent many a dollar for the support of foreign mis- 
sions.” 

“Without another word the boys lifted the curtain and 
joined the Kanaka family in their devotions, clad as they 
were in shirt and trousers and with bare feet. Kaikoo 
opened his Bible and read several chapters, expounding 
at the same time in Hawaiian to his sons and Barney, for 
he, too, was present. 

“Poor Morrissey,” whispered Rollo to Russell. “His 
Church denies him the Bible, and though he was born and 
reared in the very cradle of Christianity, he comes to this 
grandson of an idolatrous heathen to hear it read and ex- 
plained.” 

“But mark my word,” returned Russell, “the day is 
not far away when all Christian churches will read the 
Bible as freely as these Hawaiians do.” 

The next day was Saturday, and the whole valley was 
astir with activity at dawn ; for was it not baking day 
with the Hawaiians? They were making ready for the 
rest and religious services of the Sabbath. Kaikoo found 
an excellent and early market for his shark meat, for 
which the natives have an especial fondness. Jim and 
Dan loaded their biggest canoe with squid, lobsters and 
fish, and, raising a sail, sped away to sell them to the Chi- 
nese and Japs of the next sugar plantation. A number of 
half grown Kanakas and Japanese turned up and offered 
for a trifling share in the catch to assist in salting the 
fish. For several hours the scene was a busy one, while 
the little Mongolians were splitting open the mullets, the 


171 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

herring-like op Hu, the fat sturgeon and skipjacks, with 
other denizens of the deep, skilfully snared in Kaikoo’s 
net in the darkness of the night. He had much difficulty 
in controlling the irrepressible mischief of the youngsters, 
for it was the school holiday, and they were full of most 
outlandish, though good humored pranks. The Kanaka 
boys would drop everything to race on a wager up the 
trees, seventy-five feet high, and drop green cocoanuts for 
the white boys to eat. When Kaikoo had gone for a mat 
bag of salt, the Japs suddenly pulled off their shirts and 
indulged in comical contortions, one representing a vault- 
ing monkey, — another gliding the floor, snake fashion. 
Little Taraboom suddenly blew a score of gaudy paper 
butterflies through a bamboo, apparently from his stom- 
ach, and after they had tried in vain to escape, fanned 
them into a floating circle and roosted them all around 
the brim of Russell’s Panama hat. Then little All-right, 
with a twinkle in his almond eyes, transferring the hat 
to his own head, seized an open umbrella and wffiked up 
the guy wire of a telephone pole. There he fanned the 
butterflies into the air, and drove them in a bevy before 
him, while he walked the telephone wire a score of yards. 
Finally he lost his balance and tumbled, more scared than 
hurt, into a deep pool of water adjoining Kaikoo’s bath- 
ing shed. - 

“You giv six rials, I makee mango seed sprout, grow, 
flower, fruit; you eatee ripe mango,” coaxed the largest 
and most obstreperous of the Japs ; — but here all the boys 
scrambled to their fish salting, and a moment later Kai- 
koo entered with the captured turtle struggling violently 
on his shoulders. 

“You uncle, — want you talk, — telephone, — over China- 
man store.” 

“Oh ! a message from uncle !” cried Russell ; “he’s re- 
ceived our letter to Hilo.” 

Mr. Hadley talked for ten minutes, gave the boys news 


172 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


from home, just received by the Frisco steamer; also an 
item from the Hilo Daily, announcing an earthquake 
shock in Manila on the afternoon of the 25th. 

“Why, that’s today,” cried Rollo ; “surely some mistake. 
It isn’t breakfast time yet in the Philippines.” 

“Bet you a ten-cash, it is right,” whispered Russell. 
When the ’phone conversation was ended, Rollo replied, 
“That’s a bargain, Russell.” 

“Well, then, as soon as you cross the i8oth degree of 
longitude it’s the next day. In Manila it’s the 26th of the 
month at this minute.” 

Rollo saw his error, and Russell held out his hand play- 
fully. “Ten dollar eagle, please.” 

Rollo placed a handful of money in his out-stretched 
palm. 

“Why, this is Chinese coin ! Copper, too, and a square 
hole in each,” exclaimed Russell. “Just my wager,” re- 
turned Rollo, with a wink to the delighted storekeeper. 
''Cash is a Chinese word, adopted into the English lan- 
guage, — means a sapeck, — value one-tenth of a cent in 
Shanghai. I paid a big premium for them, — two cents 
for the ten to a Chinaboy in Hilo. Ain’t I right. Ah 
Sing?” 

“Vely good! Vely good; — no mistake; — one cent all 
samee ten sapeck ; we call ten cash, Canton side,” returned 
the Chinese storekeeper, who enjoyed the joke with 
much zest. 

“Yes, you’ve got him, dead to rights, where the hair’s 
short. I’ve lived on an island where it was Sunday all 
day long, and Monday the same day on the next island 
west. You could toss a cake of shipbread from one to 
t’other. I often swum across, early before sun up, and 
back after dark, to get away from the cussed sanctimoni- 
ous Missionary Sunday on my island.” 

Rollo and Russell looked with astonishment at the 
speaker. He was a white man, bronzed, wrinkled and 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 173 

weatherbeaten by seventy years of exposure to the sun 
and wind. His snowy locks and long grey beard gave 
evidence that, for perhaps scores of years, they had been 
strangers to scissors and razor. There was something in 
his garrulous words, grating voice, unkempt appearance 
and uncompromising tones, that gave the boys an intuitive 
impression at once : he was not only a hermit, but a man 
hater. 

“Lis Mista Jim Hicks ; nice ole fella ; got plenty kalo- 
patch; he son have big horsee — bifi ranch. Manna Kea- 
side,” put in the suave Chinaman. 

“Pleased to meet you, sir,” returned Rollo. “We knew 
an elderly retired sailor, Robert Hicks; — became ac- 
quainted with him on Nantucket Island.” 

“Bob Hicks! Sailor! Nantucket Island ! Y^h.y,thafs 
my brother! or was fifty years ago. Come right over to 
my ranch and tell me all about him.” 

“You come again, Melican boy, allee right. I got plen- 
ty fish hook, jack-knife, ritee paper, pen, ink, Chinee and 
Japanee curio.” 

The boys cast a glance around the unique market, a 
well built frame structure of one large room and veran- 
dah. It smelt very strongly of soap, salt beef and salmon ; 
there were gamey odored goat skins and cowhides, also 
Mexican saddles and big roweled spurs, gaudy calicos, 
and still more flashy ribbons ; manilla rope and molasses, 
monsters in the shape of dried squids and sword fish. The 
variety of commodities, one of a kind, seemed almost 
endless. Everything was neat and orderly, but the only 
attempt at display which Ah Sing made was that of his 
wonderful cue , — eight feet long! which he frequently 
coiled around his head and uncoiled in the presence of a 
customer. 

Jim Hick’s ranch consisted of several grass thatched 
houses. The first of these was to Rollo and Russell a 
wonderful curiosity shop. Within it was an almost in- 


174 Adventures of TRollo in Hawaii 

describable chaos of boats and oars, ship’s rigging, broken 
spars, anchors, tattered sails, chains, harpoons, small can- 
non, broken chests, and a high tangled heap in one cor- 
ner of damaged merchandise, once part of a ship’s valu- 
able cargo. Everything was black with age and dust. It 
did not take them long to relate what they knew about 
Hick’s brother. 

'‘You see, I’ve been a wrecker in my younger days,” 
said the old man, by way of explanation. “But the bus- 
iness is worthless now, unless we can get hold of an opium 
smuggler, or a cargo of French brandies. By the way, 
you are not missionaries, are you?” 

“No, sir; simply tourists,” returned Russell quickly; 
for he could see a red light in Hicks’ eyes, such as a bull 
displays, when glaring in several directions for the glimpse 
of a crimson bandana. 

“Very good ; — then you’ll join me in a stiff ti-root cock- 
tail for an eye-opener.” 

“Thank you,” said Rollo, “we’d rather have a mild 
lemon sangaree and keep our peepers shut.” 

“Ha-ha ! that’s all right. If you was a missionary you’d 
ask for a tin roof cock-tail; that’s a glass of water. I 
call it ‘tin-roof,’ because that treat is on the house, you 
know.” 

“Here, Tam-ree !” shouted the old sinner to a couple of 
shirtless, half-white boys, peering timidly through the 
door. “Pi-mai quick ! some ohias, papaiyas and other ai- 
puaa (pig fodder), and tell the Wai-hee-ney, some lemees 
and kopaa (sugar and limes), and be demnition soon 
about totein’ it in, too.” 

Rollo and Russell stared at each other in astonishment 
at this jargon, which evidently was Hicks’ “pigeon Kan- 
aka.” But the youngsters made no mistakes in transla- 
tion, and soon had a half bushel of golden bananas, or- 
anges, papaiyas, mangos and other fruit, piled on the mat, 
where reclined Hicks and his guests. Shortly after ap- 


175 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

peared a sweet little girl, with brown skin and flowing 
ringlets, clad in a calico chemise, bearing cocoanut ladles 
and a calabash of delicious lemonade ; this had been tem- 
pered with a dash of pineapple cider. Hicks reinforced 
his own tipple with sundry additions from a suspicious 
looking black bottle of rank, rummy odor, supposedly 
containing home made wine, though labeled “Mum’s Ex- 
tra Dry.” 

“Yes, I’m unfortunately one of them cusses called 
' beach-combers,” continued Hicks. “There’s thousands of 
us scattered around the Pacific islands.” 

“Usually wreckers, are they?” inquired Russell, very 
guardedly. 

“Wreckers be d,” returned Hicks. “They don’t 

usually have my particular employment; that’s where 
they’re foxy granpas. They are mostly runaway sailors ; 
take things as they come, or take them anyway; live on 
the country like the Kanakas ; don’t worry land like me 
they have no use for the missionary.” 

“Marry native wives and bring up families?” 

“Marry your grandmother! They don’t have to tie 
up to any laws. They do as they demnition please T 

I will not endeavor to repeat Hicks’ exact language, 
nor even to insert dashes in the place of his very emphatic 
words. The reader may, however, be quite certain they 
were always there. Rollo and Russell listened respectfully 
to the hoary sinner’s harangue, but his foul and profane 
expressions brought a blush of shame to their cheeks. 

“Some people praise the missionaries,” he continued, 
“but you boys might as well have a peep behind their 
cussed sanctimonious curtain. They’ve ruined the coun- 
try! It’s no longer a fit place for a liberty loving man to 
live in who wants to enjoy himself.” 

“Ruined it ? In what way ?” spoke up Rollo boldly. 

“Well, in the first place they had no business to come 
here! — nobody invited them. But seeing they couldn’t 


176 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

interfere at home, the,y were bound to emigrate to where 
they could meddle, — take advantage of the Kanakas’ un- 
suspecting innocence, as you might say. When they got . 
here they coaxed the natives to burn up their idols. What 
harm were them chunks of wood and stone doing, I’d like 
to know? Then they got around the kings and chiefs, and 
wheedled them into dividing the lands among the low 
down Kanakas, so no foreign settler could have a chance 
to get hold of a decent sized piece of good territory. 
Then came a constitution. What good, in the devil’s 
name, was that, when the people were dying off by the 
thousand and couldn’t take the constitution with them? 
From that point their dum fool monopolistic tactics come 
quicker and faster. Compidsory school larjus! What 
earthly use were they to the savage niggers, who can’t 
learn anything when they do go to school. Marriage 
laws! Why, you might as well try to pair off the cattle 
and pigs by marrying them, as to make family rules for 

these heathens. That’s what’s raising the very old D ! 

with the white men, too. They won’t stand it. Some day 
we’ll have a bloody revolution here in consequence. 
Schools and Colleges! (mostly supported by tax on the 
white people). What earthly good to educate those low- 
down Chinese, Japs and Kanaks? They’ll- never be bet- 
ter than plantation scrubs and sugar-cane wallopers. Go- 
ing to school only makes them saucy, lazy and good for 
nothing. The less they know the better they can work. 
Liquor laws! Ain’t it a burning shame that a few dozen 
missionaries should set up and dictate what all the rest 
of the people should eat or drink ? If I want a little some- 
thing stimulating to wet my grub hopper with. I’m going 
to haz>e it, and God, man or the devil can’t stop me. Now 
what do you say to that. Young America?” 

‘T wouldn’t mind discussing it, Mr. Hicks,” said Rollo; 
“but we are your guests, and it would be very impolite to 
argue with one’s kind host.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 177 

“Oh 1 never mind that. You can say what you durn 
please and it won t turn my stomach. I’ve been cussing 
and discussing the missionaries for these fifty years, ^nd 
a chit of a lad like you can’t hurt my feelings ; — not very 
much.”, 

“Well, Mr. Hicks, I don’t profess to know very much 
about the question ; but if you are willing to pardon me in 
advance, for a little discourtesy, and treading on the toes 
of your convictions, I’m willing, just for the sake of a 
diversion on this warm day, to tell you how it looks to 
a fellow when he’s up a tree, as you might say.” 

“That’s the way I like to hear you talk. That’s genu- 
ine Yankee grit. Now go ahead, and don’t be afraid of 
a little broken china.” 

“Just as a matter of information,” returned Rollo, “tell 
us, did the missionaries really monopolize the influenc- 
ing powers during the first fifty or sixty years after they 
arrived on the islands, in 1820 ? In matters of statecraft, 
as well as in religion, they enjoyed the predominating 
power among the people and the kings and chiefs, I sup- 
pose.” 

“Right ! They bossed the whole hen roost. And they 
dictated not only the internal but the foreign policy, clear 
up to the time the islands went over to Uncle Sam. Why, 
there wasn’t a High Chief or King dared say his soul was 
his own, unless he got permission from the American 
Missionaries : — they made a jumping- jack of the whole 
Hawaiian nation, so’s it would bob up an’ down, as they 
pulled the string.” 

“And for about sixty years no outside individual or 
foreign power made any headway in dictating the national 
policies and affairs of state?” 

‘Exactly ! It was a grinding religious despotism, as 
bad as the czar’s in Russia.” 

“Now,” continued Rollo, “I've read the history of 
Hawaii quite carefully, and 1*11 briefly recount what hap- 


178 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

pened in those sixty years, and what the missionaries did 
for the country. Then you enumerate what they failed to 
do that ought to have been done. 

“Before 1820 the people worshipped idols and offered 
human sacrifices to them. They were ground between 
the priests, who imposed the most distressing taboos on 
them, and the chiefs, who owned all the lands and held 
the whole of the common people in feudal bondage. Mar- 
riage was unknown ; the men discarded their wives at will, 
and a most abhorrent immorality among the sexes was 
prevalent. Women buried alive a large proportion of 
their infants, that they might escape a life of slavery. The 
people lived in constant terror of the Mu, the high chief’s 
execution*er, who prowled at night to secure human sac- 
rifices, or destroy those of whom the chief or priest was 
jealous. Bloody wars and tribal feuds were constantly 
decimating the population. Frequent epidemics swept 
away tens of thousands. There were no schools, no edu- 
cation, no literature, only the profoundest ignorance ; no 
ownership of property, no punishment of crimes, no post- 
ofhces, no public highways, no money, no developed in- 
dustries, no commerce, no family ties or patriotism, no 
protection to life and property ; only revolting supersti- 
tion and idolatry, abject and groveling slavery. Such 
was the chaos existing in 1820. Now this same chaos 
existed in New Zealand among the Mooris, — the cousins 
of the Hawaiians. In New Zealand the white man came 
long before the missionary, and the result was the wag- 
ing for sixty years of a war of extermination of the na- 
tives, and the appropriation of all their valuable land by 
foreigners. What a contrast in Hawaii ! Not a war or a 
breach of peace has taken place in ninety years. Through 
the influence of the missionaries a central government and 
a House of Parliament was established, and friendly for- 
eign relations maintained. The lands were divided among 
the common people, and law? enacted for the equitable 


179 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

protection of every citizen in his rights. Feudalism was 
abolished ; universal education, schools and colleges were 
established ; the language reduced to letters, newspapers 
and books published, roads and bridges were built every- 
where ; postal service to every village instituted, a consti- 
tutional monarchy established; great industries fostered 
and encouraged, commerce developed and protected. Sev- 
eral times the islands were seized on silly pretexts by for- 
eign powers, but their independence was restored by the 
diplomacy of the missionary. Marriage laws preserve 
the sanctity of family ties, and liquor laws prevent the 
people from destroying themselves as the American In- 
dians have done. Hundreds of churches and school 
houses were built, and scores of thousands of Hawaiian 
converts admitted to the Evangelical Associations. The 
Mission not only has become self supporting, but has edu- 
cated and sent scores of native preachers to the Maeque- 
sas and Micronesian islands. Before the missionaries 
came, many foreigners had been massacred by the sav- 
ages, and a white man’s life was in constant peril. But 
in the last eighty years, in no country on the earth has 
life and property been safer or lawlessness and crime less 
frequent. 

‘T venture to say that not a resident in this whole val- 
ley thinks it necessary to lock his residence at night. Now 
I have enumerated what the missionaries did do. The 
next question is what they criminally neglected to do for 
the welfare of Hawaii, its natives and foreign residents, 
that they ought to have done.” 

Russell had been watching carefully the effect of Kol- 
lo’s remarks, and seeing a dangerous light in the. beach- 
comber’s eyes, . suddenly changed the subject before the 
explosion of the smoldering volcano. He was evidently 
beside himself with anger, and baffled for want of a wea- 
pon. of defense. 

“By the way, Mr. Hicks, before I forget to ask you, 


180 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

do you know the whereabouts of this mysterious valley 
they call Paliuli?” 

“Well, yes, and no,” replied the wrecker, stroking a 
long white beard stained with tobacco juice, evidently 
glad of the momentary diversion. “That is to say, Fve 
been there and done some trading for sandalwood ; but 
the old watch-dog of a priest who let me in, was very 
careful to blindfold me just before entering the little 
canyon leading into it, and I never could find it again 
when I went back. It’s an all-fired pretty place, but the 
savages livin’ in it are as ugly as they were a hundred 
years ago, and as suspicious as all git out. I couldn’t 
have got in but my waihine was born and raised thar, and 
that gives me some priveleges.” 

“Your wife was brought up there !” exclaimed Rollo. 
“Then she knows the Princess Minelulu.” 

“Wife be d ! she’s my zvaihine, I told you, and 

that’s all there is to it !” 

At this moment Barney entered and announced to Hicks 
the presence of a visitor, awaiting him in the next house. 

“Come along with me, boys ; I’ll show you my ranch/' 
and Hicks led the way into the second thatched house. 
This was the “ladies’ department,” and though only fur- 
nished with mats, kapa curtains, gourd calabashes, pret- 
tily colored hanging fishnets, and other items of Kanaka 
handiwork, it was exquisitely clean and neat. Manini, 
Hicks’ zuaihine, a middle aged woman, rather stout and 
clad in a flaming red holokti, was seated on a mat, of 
which the visitor occupied the other end. 

It was HizvaMzva, the priest of Pele ! Rollo and Rus- 
sell were startled at his unexpected presence, but greeted 
him cordially. He wrung their hands with evident feel- 
ing, exclaiming, “Makena hoi kuu aloha. Ua aneane make 
weliweli wau i ka Pele ; eia nae hoi ua ola ma o ko olua 
kokua ana mai. (How great is my gratitude, for your sav- 
ing me from the awful death in the lava flow.)” He then 


181 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

described briefly, with eloquent gesticulations, to Hicks, 
his numerous family and several visitors, the exciting 
events of the escape from the pepper-box, and the terrific 
explosions following. From that moment the boys found 
themselves heroes in the eyes of. all the natives in the val- 
ley. Manini brought out a wooden pipe with an immense 
bowl, and a flint and old razor blade used in the place of 
matches. She dried some dark tobacco leaves over the 
charcoal brazier, powdered them between her hands, and 
passed around the lighted pipe. All took a few whiffs 
but Rollo, Russell and the children. The villainous fumes 
were powerful enough, as Russell expressed it, to “as- 
phyxiate and capsize an elephant.” Hicks now excused 
himself for a consultation with Hiwahiwa, who had an 
important communication, and the boys, finding that Ma- 
nini could hardly speak a word of English, took their 
leave and sauntered up the valley to visit the odd scenes 
of Hawaiian baking day. 

“Be gorry, the owld haythen doesn’t twig yet that it’s 
meself that’s after thim cans of opium,” exclaimed Bar- 
ney, “and he’s come to indjuce this Hicks, the wrecker, 
to jine him in boring forty feet through the hard lava 
rock to where it lays.” 

“Ha !” cried Russell. “He it is, then, that spirited it 
away from where Rollo and I found it, and this renegade 
moonshiner is just smart enough to do that shady little 
job, and hand over to the Kahuna for a divy, just about 
as much opium as he could bury in a sardine box.” 

“And don’t forget, there’ll be sharp eyes not far away. 
The only thing that’s puzzlin’ the Irishman is, who’s of- 
ferin’ the best reward, the sheriff wid $10,000, or Cap- 
tain Jardine wid his foine Kona coffee plantation?” 

“Take the plantation, Barney,” returned Rollo. “It’s 
the Captain’s money that bought the drug, and he’s made 
no effort so far to smuggle it into Hawaii. T believe if 
Lorin Anderson seizes it, Jardine could recover it in a 


182 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

court of equity. But say, what is that old Kanaka doing 
with that pig ? He's tied a cocoanut sinnet tightly around 
its nose. Great Heavens ! he’s killed it by smothering 
instead of cutting its throat. Now he’s singeing off its 
bristles, in the place of scalding them with hot water.” 

“That’s the haythen way of doing it,” returned Bar- 
ney. “But there’s only one thing that tastes foiner than 
the Kanaka’s pig cooked in the underground imii, and 
that’s two pigs.” 

“Or a tender dog, fattened on poi,” suggested Rollo. 

“Ah ! that’s no joke,” returned Barney. “Ayther av 
thim wud throw a hungry man into hysterics of joy when 
it comes to the ’atin’ of the same.” 

Through the bottom of the valley the mountain stream 
was tumbling over boulders and rocks, and meandered 
from one cliff to the opposite one, leaving four to twenty 
acre gardens enclosed by its sinuations. These were wa- 
tered by little aqueducts, cut on the face of the cliffs, and 
terraced by stone work into shallow ponds which formed 
rice and taro patches of astonishing fertility. 

“See !” cried Russell, “the taro is nothing more than a 
big calla lily, almost the same leaf and flower, with big' 
roots, some as large as your head, shaped like tenpins, cov- 
ered with black fibres-; but the flesh is white as milk with 
starch. I’m going to try eating one raw.” 

But as he said this, Barney snatched the root from his 
hand and threw it across the river. 

“Misther Russell, if you was to ate that same, in foive 
minutes you’d be doubled up wid convulsions for a week ; 
a layin’ spacheless, too, cryin’ ‘wather ! wather ! wather !’ ” 

“He’s right,” said Rollo. “Professor Alexis told me 
that the acridity of the raw kalo was a poison, like that 
of the raw mandioca root (from which comes tapioca and 
farina). He estimated the limit of the mandioca root 
was fifteen tons to the acre; that under high cultivation 
an acre would produce as high as four hundred to one 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 183 

thousand good bunches of bananas. Just compare that 
with twelve bushels of wheat per acre, on grandpa’s farm 
in Vermont. Ah! here’s a scene of bustle; a score of 
Kanakas and boys, rushing their imus for Sunday proven- 
der. They wash the baked kalo in this still water pool, 
and throw the peelings to their pigs over the stone wall. 
Mr. Alexis says Kanakas never get really busy, until 
preparing and cooking and eating their food, and then 
their industry becomes not only delirious, but frantic. Let 
us sit on this big sloping rock and watch them.” 

This outdoor Polynesian kitchen was a most unique 
sight. The young men brought faggots of dry wood, 
while the older Kanakas, clad only in trousers rolled above 
their knees, waded into the taro patches and gathered 
back-breaking loads of roots, hanging like huge bunches 
of grapes from each end of a stout aiiamo or shoulder 
stick. The ovens were pits a yard deep, lined with rock. 
In these they placed the wood, and over it a round arch 
of porous a-a stones. When this a-a was heated to red- 
ness, the arch was broken with a pole, and the hissing 
stones fell into the pit. Over them was laid a thick layer 
of green ti-leaves, fern fronds or the rampant greenery 
of the Wandering Jew plant. Then came the taro roots, 
sweet potatoes, yams, breadfruits, joints of pig or goat 
meat, or other victuals, the whole covered with another 
layer of ti and fern fronds. Over all was spread a broad 
pandanus mat, and a cone of dry sand. Before the oven 
was completely closed, a calabash of water was poured in 
through a bamboo, or into the mouth of the cone, and two 
or three yam roots, attached to withes, lowered to the 
hot stores. The water, converted into dry steam, baked 
the various eatables with a flavor unknown even to French 
cookery. During the operation (four to six hours) 
the yams roots were drawn out by the withes, and more 
water added if found necessary to allay the heat. While our 
tourists were watching the unique scene, the schoolboys. 


184 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


barefooted and clad in bright colored cottons and blue- 
jeans, intoxicated by the freedom of the Saturday holi- 
day, and the golden sunshine that flooded the lovely val- 
ley, were at one moment busily assisting their parents, at 
another performing the most outlandish of merry pranks. 
The boys played prisoners’ base, and leapfrog, pursuing 
each other like monkeys, over the boulders, up the nearby 
cliffs, through the tangled branches of the breadfruits and 
hibiscus; then all disappearing, suddenly would turn up 
a few minutes after in a nearby deep pool surrounded by 
high cliffs. Here they performed wonders in the way 
of leaping from rocks fifty feet above the water, diving 
under the rock ledges into submerged caverns, and vault- 
ing unexpectedly from a cave-mouth far above the water. 
The girls wove garlands of brilliant colored flowers, and 
golden pandanus nuts, sang lively Sunday school glees, 
and then went through a number of fantastic fairy march- 
ing plays, which they had learned in their day school. 
Some of the older youths and maidens busied themselves 
in the rocky stream, catching shrimps with funnel like 
baskets, and little black trout (oopus) with hand nets and 
hooks baited with limpet meats. Others, more industri- 
ous, took advantage of an island in midstream, dammed 
one branch of the river, so that it ran nearly dry, then 
gathered from under the rocks trout, shrim.ps and crabs 
by the calabashfull. The presence of the young haoles 
(or foreigners) made matters still more lively; for the 
boys brought sour and sweet guavas, roasted plantains, 
koku (a confection of grated cocoanut and breadfruit, 
roasted in ti-leaves), and no end of baked ti-root, whose 
flavor, as Barney remarked, “wad make Tim Finnegan 
himself come to life at his wake, a thinkin’ it was maple 
sugar strengthened wid a sup av black Tipperary 
potheen.” 

They even persuaded our boys to join them in a game 
of water football, played in the pool, the ball being a round 


185 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

greased empty gourd, whose gyrations and vanishing 
flights gave the swimming contestants an endless amount 
of fun. 

‘These little Kanakas make more noise than any young- 
sters I ever saw,'’ exclaimed Russell. “You can’t hear 
yourself think when they are near.” 

And yet,” returned Rollo, “they’re brimming over 
with good nature, kind and generous to a fault. I haven’t 
heard a bad or impatient word uttered by one of them yet.” 

‘T’ve traded off two jackknives and a pocket micro- 
scope,” continued Russell, “for a whole bag full of curios. 
Let us see : — tops made of kukui nuts, — kinikini beans 
used for marbles, — a little bamboo mouth violin, — ancient 
fishhooks carved from bone, an old time dagger, edged 
with sharks’ teeth, — a gimlet twisted out of a ship’s spike, 
strange little sea shells galore.” 

“They are determined we shall learn Hawaiian,” con- 
tinued Rollo. “I have acquired at least a hundred words 
today. They keep me constantly repeating the words 
and sentences after them. At this rate in a week or two 
we’ll be jabbering like cannibal savages. So far it’s as 
easy as tumbling off a log. Prof. Alexis told me that the 
natives, old and young, never use bad grammar. The 
little three year olds chatter like monkeys; and yet here 
is Jim Hicks, who, Barney says, has lived nearly fifty 
years among them, cannot construct a single sentence cor- 
rectly, or pronounce the words as they are spelled. He 
says ‘High-low’ for Hilo, ‘Kill-away’ for Kilauea, ‘0-wei- 
hee’ for Hawaii.” 

“By the way,” said Russell, “did you hear what pet 
name the natives give Mr. Hicks?” 

“No, but Mr. Oudinot informed me that they have a 
comic nickname for nearly every white man. He wears 
spectacles, and they have dubbed him Maka-am-ani, which 
he translates, ‘Bully boy with a glass eye !’ One of the 
young white men of Wailtiku, a profligate, suddenly re- 


186 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

formed and became an evangelist. They call him ‘Bill 
Hemolele or Holy Bill’ Another was born on firecracker 
day, and he’s referred to as ‘Poa Julai’ or ‘Fourth of July.’ 
What have they done for Hicks?” 

“Well, he’s strongly suspected of being a moonshiner, 
so the Kanakas style him, among themselves, ‘Jim Nihi- 
aumoe,’ or ‘Jimmy Sneak along at Midnight.’ ” 

The next day was Sunday, a very quiet one in the val- 
ley. Ah Sing’s village store was closed and locked, for 
the Chinaman, though not a Christian himself, was 
shrewd enough to know that by observing the Sabbath he 
would gain both the respect and the patronage of the good 
people of Waihalulu. Even the dogs appeared to refrain 
from their usual morning chorus, and the bleating of the 
goats on the cliffs was scarcely audible. Toward ten 
o’clock several loud reports of a gun rang through the 
stilly air. 

“Thim’s the signal for the cornin’ down from the up- 
valley of another furriner to see old man Hicks,” re- 
marked Barney. “They’re a-gettin’ ready fer a wild bul- 
lock hunt on Mauna Loa.” 

*■ “That means they are going to bore for the hidden opi- 
um,” returned Russell. “And what a disgrace he is to the 
American people !” added Rollo. “He acknowledges that 
he was reared in a God-fearing commonwealth, and takes 
pride in his ancestry ; then delights in marring the Sab- 
bath quiet of this community, which has only eighty years 
ago emerged from a savage and idolatrous life. He 
spends his time in trying to destroy this beautiful garden 
of peace and love, which his countrymen, the mission- 
aries, have planted here. Mr. Alexis told us there were 
no words for cursing in the Hawaiian language. I won- 
der if it’s true that only citizens of nations who assume 
to be God-fearing and civilized, blaspheme their 
own Maker. Hark ! there is the church bell ; sounds like 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 187 

that in the village next to grandpa’s farm in the Green 
Mountains.” 

“The Green Mountains !” echoed Barney. “IVe heard 
of those same. That’s where the hills are so steep the 
milkmaids hev to look up chimney in the avenin’ to see 
the cows cornin’ home from the pasture ; and there’s where 
they sharpens the noses av the cattle so they may ate the 
grass between the rocks.” 

“Yes,” laughed Russell, “and those living there are the 
people who can make wooden nutmegs; and when they 
have an over-supply of shoe pegs, will sharpen the other 
end and sell them for oats.” 

They found the village church a neat frame structure. 
Nearly every Hawaiian in the valley was present, and even 
some of the Japanese, though services in their language 
were held in the afternoon. The older matrons wore the 
usual native gown, the holoku or Mother Hubbard, first 
introduced by the missionaries ; but the younger women 
were attired in modern shirt-waists and skirts, with very 
pretty hats that assumed to be New York and Paris 
styles. It was odd to see a stately elderly dame, barefoot, 
but clad in a richly embroidered silken holoku, no doubt 
once her wedding dress, with a bonnet (probably her 
mother’s) fashionable thirty or forty years ago. But 
few were without garlands of flowers ; even some of the 
young men wore them. If Hawaii has any prominent and 
peculiar national custom it is the prevalence of floral 
adornment. 

The Rev. Kahuku preached eloquently, though quite 
simply, and both young and old gave close attention. 
When he announced the text, he read it also in English 
for the special benefit of the three white boys in his audi- 
ence. Then at the end of the service he gave them a 
hearty welcome and persuaded Rollo and Russell to take 
each a class in the Sunday School. 

“How did you make out teaching the lesson to your 


188 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


little savages?” asked Russell, when they had returned 
and were comparing notes. 

“Oh ! my boys could understand and talk English fairly 
well, and they devoured the English lesson leaves. Sav- 
ages ! Why, they are as well behaved as any country 
boys in Vermont, and much more anxious to learn. I 
saw your girls just hanging on your lips and casting 
admiring glances at your fancy necktie.” 

“They were very interesting,” said Russell. “Of course 
the young people were mostly barefoot, but what signifies 
that when their hearts are kindly and their souls free 
from debasing instincts? When we first landed I was 
really afraid of the Kanakas, on account of the terrible 
Maori wars in New Zealand, and dreadful stories of can- 
nibalism in the Marquesas Islands ; but now we may actu- 
ally consider ourselves safer in this not long ago savage 
community, than we were in the heart of New York or 
Chicago. My class was quite cosmopolitan. I had two 
Japs, a Chinese girl and one Portuguese. The little brown 
Hawaiians were the smartest, but the Japs had the best 
memories. Lu-chu and Lucillo were the best behaved.” 

“You may not feel quite so safe when you reach Paliu- 
li,” returned Rollo. “By the way, it’s Jim’s birthday to- 
morrow, and he and Dan invite us to join them in a san- 
dalwood trip up into the gorge of the valley.” 

“Hurrah ! Just the chance we’ve been looking for. 
Now won’t we bring back a load of curiosities and botany 
specimens !” 


A riirilliiig Tale of the Tropics 


189 


CHAPTER XV. 


how to Climb Waterfalls.— The Secret 
Garden in the Canyon. — Russell Shoots a Goat out of the 
Clou(^. ^hey Blunder intd the Moonshiners’ Camp. — A Trop- 
The Divulges some Valuable Secrets.— 

1 he Distillers Outfit Goes up in Smoke. 


.A.Y had not broken when the five boys 
reached the upper valley about five 
o’clock, having started early, and come 
thus far by moonlight. They were well 
provided with hatchets and ropes, iron 
hooks, and a long bamboo. Jim and 
Dan now divested themselves of their clothes and 
carried them in bundles on their heads. Occasionally 
the valley narrowed to a canyon with sheer cliffs many 
hundred feet high, leaving only a passage for the river. 
This ran, now clear and deep, then dashed roaring and 
foaming between huge boulders, and ever and anon leaped 
precipices from twenty to fifty feet high. • To scale these 
was a dangerous feat, to which Barney and the Kanakas 
applied themselves with great ingenuity. A hook was 
spliced to a rope, and then conveyed at the end of the 
bamboo to a tree or branch, at the top of the waterfall. 
Sometimes, when no such friendly help offered itself, 
they hooked themselves upward from one branch to an- 
other of the trees that clung to the canyon walls; then 
like monkeys swung themselves, pendulum fashion, to 
the top of the cataract. 

“This for danger beats climbing church steeples,” ex- 
claimed Rollo. “Everything is wet and mossy; one lit- 
tle slip or misstep would hurl you on the sharp rocks 
below.” 

“Yes, there may be a lot of fun and excitement in 



190 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

a sanclalwooder’s experience; but excuse me from such 
a monkey life. Oh! Rollo, look at that long stretch of 
precipice, as far up to the zenith aa you can see, — it must 
be a thousand feet, — right into the clouds, covered with a 
rampant mattress of trees, jungle and hanging vines, for 
the whole length of a quarter mile. It’s just one tinkle, 
tinkle, tinkle of falling water drops. Everything you 
touch around here is water soaked, and from every branch 
of the vines a tiny stream of water is adding its contribu- 
tion to the river.” 

“Yes,” said Rollo, “you remember Professor Alexis ex- 
plained the phenomena of the northeast or windward wa- 
tersheds of the Islands. The wann moisture in the air 
from the ocean, as it mounts the slopes, is rapidly cooled, 
condenses into these clouds, which are squeezed like a 
sponge as they climb higher to the cold mountain heights ; 
result, a continuous little misty drizzle, almost all the year 
around. The same phenomena happens in the Amazon 
valley. The trade winds as they mount higher and high- 
er toward the slopes of the Andes, deposit a vast quantit)^ 
of moisture, but when they reverse the operation, descend- 
ing the leeward Andean slopes, they are as dry as Sahara, 
and give western Peru and Ecuador a climate like 
Egypt’s. On the other side of the mountain from here is 
Kaiwaihae, in a district always dry and parched, where 
rain is a novelty.” 

The valley now widened, and the boys found them- 
selves in a perfect Paradise of tropical luxuriance; wild 
bananas and plantains abounded ; lofty tree ferns, palms, 
candlenut trees, ohia trees, (Eugenia), blazing with crim- 
son blossoms, custard apples, smoke and umbrella trees, 
ti-plants (Dracena), and a multitude of strange fruits, 
ferns, parasites and gorgeous flowers kept Russell con- 
tinually uttering exclamations of wonder, as he found 
new botanical marvels. Barney and the Kanakas were 
more interested in searching for the precious sandal- 


191 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

wood, of which they could see an occasional full-grown 
tree far up the precipice. They found a little island 
where the stream could be readily turned, and soon 
bagged an abundant supply of trout and shrimps. 

“Quick! Misther Russell,” exclaimed Barney; ‘that 
ledge up there almost overhead; a flock of goats; they 
come down from the ridge yander to admire the illigant 
scenery. Take the white Icid, — he’s shtandin’ on the edge 
of the rock. Your rifle will carry the matter av six 
hundred feet, aisy.” 

Russell placed his gun in a tree crotch and took de- 
liberate aim. 

“Now, if I only had Colonel Oudinot’s wonderful 
rifle 1” he exclaimed ; “but here goes anyway. I can 
just see a white spot in the cloud.” 

“You’ve got him!” cried Rollo. “No, he tumbles 
astride a bush. Yes, he’s struggled free and begins to 
slide down the steep, smooth rock, rolling over and over ; 
now he strikes an obstruction and, whiz ! he bounds far 
into the valley. Hurray ! — landed in the top of a banana 
tree !” 

Jim and Dan, almost frantic with excitement, rushed 
up into the plantain grove and cut through the soft trunk 
of the tree with their knives; when they reappeared a 
few minutes later the kid was skinned and quartered. 

“If Mr. Oudinot were here,” said Rollo, “he would 
claim that in this valley all one needs when hungry is 
to shoot straight up into the clouds, and down tumbles 
a fat goat for dinner.” 

“Rollo, if we could only climb that ridge, I believe 
we could see down into the wondrous Emerald Valley. 
What say you, Barney?” 

The Irishman shrugged his shoulders. “The owld 
praste towld me the only entrance to that same little 
hiven was ayther by climbing up a waterfall precipice 
three hundred feet, or wid a oavern tunnel; you jumped 


192 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

into that same from the top av a murtherin’ high ohia 
tree. He promises to take us as soon as he comes back 
from Mauna Loa.” 

‘And there it is now !” burst out Russell. ‘A cave in 
the cliff and a convenient ohia tree ! The mouth of the 
grotto is just visible from the top of this boulder.^ 

“Well, here goes,'’ said Rollo, “the worst we can do 
is to break our necks." 

The three white boys now climbed the tall ohia. 

“Just as I thought, Rollo. You can jump from that 
branch onto the ledge. But, Great Moccasins ! only a 
monkey could jump back into the tree.” 

“Here’s a black horse-hair cord from the tree into the 
grotto." 

“Just as I guessed; jerk on it! That’s the doorbell 
into the garden; the concierge will come out and say: 
‘Entree, Monsieurs, avec beaucoup de plasir I’ ’’ 

“No! here comes a stout rope out of the grotto. Ah! 
I see : — its other end is attached to something inside. 
Barney’s rove it around the ohia." 

“I’ll go first, gintlemin, being a sailor; if the beyant 
end gives way the Irishman can save himself by hanging 
hard to the hawser." 

In a few moments they had scrambled down the rope 
into the cavern. 

“Oh ! Sugar !" exclaimed Russell, “it’s only a moon- 
shiner’s den. Tubs for the ti-root mash, a worm of 
gas pipe in a big hogshead ; stream of water in one cor- 
ner, — a very complete outfit, but no Paliuli." 

“An’ divil a drap av the blissid potheen in sight," 
added Barney, with a comical sob. 

“But plenty of dry wood and camp utensils," con- 
tinued Rollo. “Say, lads, what’s the matter with our 
getting dinner here. Everything down in the valley is 
watersoaked and dripping. The rum-makers have evi- 
dently not been here for weeks/’ 


193 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

In a quarter of an hour the kid, shrimps and other 
eatables had been hoisted, by means of the rope and an 
iron kettle, to the grotto, where Jim ajid Dan joined 
the party. 

“Well have a dinner fit for a king,” exclaimed Rus- 
sell. “Stewed kid, yams and kalo, shrimps, trout, roasted 
plantains, wild pineapples and guavas, papaiyas and na- 
tive apples.” 

After this sumptuous meal the boys started out again ; 
Jim and Dan, in search of sandalwood, and the white 
members to look for a possible entrance to Paluili. Two 
miles further up they came to a waterfall vaulting from 
a precipice, three hundred feet in height. As it was 
impossible to scale this, they returned and joined the 
Kanakas. The midday sun was now pouring down into 
the valley and* had dried the dripping leaves. 

“Jim,” said Russell, as they entered a ferny, mossy 
grotto, embowered with bananas and tree ferns, “what 
are these flute-like notes we hear in every part of the 
valley, so sweet and clear and of many cadences. There 
'they go now, lu-lu-luu-u-u-loo-loo-lulu-lulu-l-l-l-oo-a-oo- 
a-oo-u liluloo-lu-lu-loo, and so on.” 

“Thim’s the swate mountain fairies, a-singin’ their 
love songs to each other,” put in Barney. “Ivery rock 
an’ tree in these parts hez one or more, and whin the 
sun shines bright an’ warm, they all burst out into praisin’ 
Heaven, and imitatin’ the harp music av the angels. If 
you go to slape a-listenin’ to thim, the little brownies will 
waft you away on their wings, into the beautiful gar- 
dens and wonderlands, and whin they stop the melody, 
bringin’ you back, you wake up agin in the cold and 
cruel world wid a hump!” 

“Very pretty conceit, Barney. Now, what do you 
say, Jim?” 

“Pu-pu-kani-ohe (flute-playing shells),” returned the 
Kanaka ; “them land shells ; almost thirty or forty kinds ; 


194 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

all beautiful ; all make different music ; look here !” and 
he pulled a handful from a bag tied to his belt. 

“Oh ! what glorious colors,” exclaimed Russell. “Eight 
different kinds, all blushing like a maiden. Rollo, I’m 
going to make a collection! They are A-cha-ti-nel-las. 
Aunt Mary would rather have them than diamonds. 
What’s that bundle of fresh bark Dan has?” 

“That’s wauke/' returned Barney; “paper mulberry.” 

“Ah ! that’s what the Polynesian kapa is beaten out of. 
That’s the Morns Papyrifera. Why wouldn’t this be a 
capital and cheap substitute for linen fiber, Rollo?” 

“Cheap! you gosling! You can harvest flax with a 
two-horse mower, and here you have to climb fifty-foot 
precipices to get a few specimens of this wauke. Bar- 
ney, v/hat are those yellow sticks in your hand?” 

“Taste thim, Misther Rollo. I found a big patch av 
thim plants beyant the banana grove. Somebody’s a- 
raising thim on the sly. They’re worth a good deal of 
money. Contraband, you know, like opium.” 

“They taste like cloves or cocaine,” said Russell; “bite 
your tongue and leave a numb, greasy feeling in your 
mouth.” 

“I know,” cried Rollo. “This is the awa or kawa 
that is used by nearly all the Polynesians for an intoxi- 
cant. The botanists call it Piper Mythysticmn, Its ef- 
fects are somewhat like those of opium. The Kanakas 
macerate it in water and drink the decoction. Kaikoo 
says that’s what killed Kamehameha and many other 
famous chieftains of Hawaiian history. Barney, this 
valley is so full of wonderful things, let us spend another 
day here.” 

“Faith, you’ll have to spend it anyway,” returned the 
Irishman. “There has been a heavy storm on Mauna 
Kea. Hark ! I hear the roaring of a freshet leapin’ the 
big waterfall a-ready.” 

“We’d better get up to the moonshiner’s den before 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 195 


the storm breaks ; that’s the only dry place in the valley.” 

They had scarcely ascended the ohia, and slid down 
the precarious rope bridge, when the valley was filled 
with black clouds rushing down from the mountain. 
These burst asunder with thunderbolts and terrific claps 
of thunder, which re-echoed far and near from the many 
perpendicular cliffs. Then the ledge was swept with 
torrents of swirling rain and wind. They appeared to 
be in the very focus of an electric storm. The darkness 
was split by zigzag lightnings playing both above and 
below them. They could hear trees in several directions 
hurled crashing down the declivity, or cloven in twain by 
the bolts of fire. 

'‘What’s that sudden deafening roar we hear up the 
valley?” exclaimed Russell. “It makes the very rocks 
under us shiver.” 

“A landslide,” returned Barney. “You kin hear the 
bowlders cornin’ down, bump ! bump ! on the ledges. 
It’s close by; for the freshet has stopped running. Be 
jabers! an’ we’ll see some fun in a few minutes. The 
canyon is dammed up, but we hear the big waterfall 
roaring louder an’ louder. Look ! there’s a hundred 
small cataracts cornin’ down from the ridges out of the 
clouds! Ain’t that a magnificent sight?” 

“Hurray!” shouted Russell a few minutes later; “the 
dam caused by the slide has broken away ; here’s another 
Johnstown flood, boys ; it sweeps the whole bottom of 
the valley, right through the awa plantation and banana 
grove : lucky we’re here high and dry. Listen to the 
boulders grinding and bumping down the river bed !” 

“And notice what a pungent, rank smell of decaying 
vegetation comes up from the thick, muddy waters; it’s 
the odor of rich forest earth and broken spicy roots. 
There go whole trees, logs and tangles of jungle. They’ll 
be thrown on the beach for Likapa’s use as firewood, 
added Rollo. 


196 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


After the worst of the freshet had passed, the wind and 
thunderbolts became less furious, but the rain continued 
pouring in torrents. 

“Hark!” exclaimed Rollo. “I hear voices under us 
in the valley; some loud swearing! I guess we’re in for 
it, boys; they’re probably desperate characters. Discre- 
tion in this case is the best part of valor. The inner 
cave makes a little turn ; supposing we hide in the dark. 
If they discover us, we’ll all yell, and if they show fight, 
I think one report of our gun will send them scurry- 
ing.” 

Barney and the Kanakas soon had nearly every tell- 
tale vestige of their presence removed, and carried their 
traps into the inner cavern, where the whole party lay 
on their stomachs with bated breath. 

In a few minutes two white men, puffing and blowing, 
reached the top of the ohia tree. “Hello !” cried one, 
“here’s the hawser fast to the tree. I told you to throw 
it back into the cache. Here it’s been out in the rain for 
three months ; — don’t tell me you did, now ; for you was 
too drunk to know a billy-goat from a hippopotamus.” 
Then as they entered the cave, he exclaimed : “Some- 
thing the matter here ! I smell smoke ! If any of Sheriff 
Anderson’s sneaks or deps are around here. I’ll bore 
’em through with hot lead. Pots and kettles left un- 
washed, too! You’re a fine scullion, Bazan! Gorra- 
mitey! an elegant jackknife laying here! You don’t 
mean to tell me you was so fuddled and obfusticated with 
ti-root cocktails that you abandoned such good property. 
Hark! didn’t you hear a sneeze? How I hate that 
sheriff, because I believe he’s a missionary T 

Here Russell nudged Rollo. “That’s old Jim Hicks 
himself,” he whispered. And Barney added: “He’s 
come afther some av his blissid hell-broth.” 

“Monsieur Jim,” replied the Frenchman, “you borrow 
ze troubles for naught. Eef Anderson been here, — 


197 


A Tlirilling Tale of the Tropics 

visite ze cache, pouf ! ze hogsheads gone up in vun 
demneeshun smoke. Eef Kanakas, presto! begone ze 
sandalwoods. Comprendez ?” 

“Mebbe you’re right, for once, old frog-eater. 1 
wouldn t care a rap for the cussed paraphernalia if it 
didn t represent a couple of months’ work by moon- 
light,— h’isting it up the waterfalls. Now for a lunch 
and a few juleps.” 

‘‘Be Gorry; they’re liftin’ a big piece of pa-hoehoe, 
and the jugs of mountain dew are slapeing like cherubs 
in the secret cellar under it,” muttered' the Irishman. 

“Barney,” whispered Rollo, “what does he mean when 
he refers to the sandalwood f 

“Thim’s the beauties, over yander in the back end, 
nigh onto twinty-five big illigant sandals ; we took it 
for extra firewood. It’s worth fifty to one hundred dol- 
lars a log.” 

The moonshiners, after removing several full jugs, 
sat down to a meal of poi and roasted squid, washed 
down by many frequent pulls at a can of hot ti-root 
toddy. 

“I don’t like the odor in this cave,” continued Hicks, 
“too suspiciously like recent fire and fresh victuals. It’ll 
give me the nightmare for a gross of Sundays to come. 
By the way, didn’t Ah Sing tell us those two Yankee 
boys were up the valley today? I hope they won’t be 
poking their noses into our oh-be- joyful factory. They 
were very curious about Paliuli. I could have told them 
it was twenty miles west from here, and nowhere near 
this ravine, as they think. They’re just smart enough 
to find the place and spoil our game of supplying the 
colony with opedildoc. It made me mad to hear the 
oldest cuss of the two stand up for the missionaries, but 
he got me corralled so neatly in the argument that I 
couldn’t help admiring him.” (Here Russell patted 
Rollo on the back.) “The more, too, as they know my 


198 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

% 

brother in Nantucket. We’ll go over to Paliuli next 
week and get some of the gang to help bore into Mauna 
Loa for the opium. They won’t blow on us, for they 
know we can put them prisoners on the reef, for their 
shady work, most any time. By the way, old Barley- 
vous, if you can keep a secret. I’ll let you into a soft 
thing ; a little bonanza that’ll land us both on Easy Street 
for all time to come.” 

“Parbleu ! Mon ami, I nevair peach. You know ver’ 
well, ven zat sheriff put me een ze witness chest, I am 
deaf, dumb and blind.” 

‘'Well, here it is; the old Kahuna let the cat out of 
the bag when his cocoanut was muddled with some of 
our best rose-water. In that secret ravine, out of which 
jumps the biggest cascade into Paliuli, are thousands of 
sandals, planted fifty years ago, mind you !” 

“Mon D — u !” shouted the renegade, jumping up in 
excitement ; “zey are eech like a bag of gold ! Ah ! I 
frequentment have tried to enter, but zat little ravine is 
like a fortress ; pah’s up-down, pali’s on every side. Mais, 
Monsieur Jim, who plant him?” 

“The old guy himself, the gal’s great-grandfather, 
when he was hiding in Paliuli two or three generations 
ago. The Kahuna wouldn’t touch them; he believes 
there’s a human spook in each tree, though he helped 
cultivate them when he was a mere kid, a tam-ree, about 
knee high to a guinea-pig. We’ll buy the little canyon 
for a song; then get into it with a rope ladder. If we 
can’t buy it, we’ll cut the trees on the Q. T., anyway. 
Do you savvy?” 

As he said this, Rollo glanced at Barney and noted 
that his eyes were glowing like two coals of fire. He 
was intently drinking in every word uttered by the moon- 
shiners. 

Soon after the two conspirators prepared to leave, 


199 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

after lowering several jugs into the valley below by 
means of a thong. 

“Well have to take the ridge route to the beach,” 
said Hicks. “This freshet won’t fizzle out till morn- 
ing.” 

After their departure, the boys emerged, cooked a 
royal supper, then bestowed themselves in a comfort- 
able manner for the night. The next day, after break- 
fast, the Kanakas proposed to Rollo and Russell to join 
them in destroying the illicit still, and appropriating the 
moonshiners’ pile of sandalwood ! 

“The first part we accept,” returned Rollo, “but not 
the latter. Sandalwooding is as legitimate as raising 
sugar. We will not permit any disturbance of Jim Hicks’ 
honest zvork; but as to the distillery; — why, we’ll not 
leave enough of that to ship away in a tomato can.” 

All hands then went to work with a will. The mash 
tubs and hogshead containing the worm, and then the 
jugs of rum and the firewood, were thrown over the 
precipice and crashed together among the rocks below. 
Finally they descended, leaving all else as they found 
it. The debris they piled up near the foot of the ohia 
and consumed it in a bonfire. 

The storm had cleared away and glorious sunshine 
again flooded the valley. The river, though still roar- 
ing with turbid water and choked with driftwood and 
other debris, delayed them but little in their descent to 
the village near the beach. 

“I enjoyed that adventure more than any other since 
we left ’Frisco,” said Russell. 


200 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


CHAPTER XVI. 

Hollo and Russell Turn Cowboys. — A Still Hunt for Wild 
Bullocks before Daybreak. — Noosing a Big Bull in the Deep 
Jungle. — The Boys Rope a Molly-Coddle. — Hunting Wild Cat- 
tle on the Precipices. — The Desperate Herd Leap the Cliff 
into the Clouds. — They are Carried into the Canyon by a 
Rock-Slide. 

EFORE a week had elapsed Rollo 
and Russell found themselves on the 
way to the great Wai-pio Valley, 
sixty miles north from Hilo. The 
journey from Waihalulu brought 
them over scores of fairyland gulches, 
very similar to the one they had left, 
and the road was always in sight 
of the Pacific, with its magnificent 
breakers' and surf, robing into the 
pretty little harbors far below them. 
These coves were embroidered with 
palms, cocoanuts and pandanus trees, 
and often entered deep into the 
m.ouths of the valleys, where the dashing waves sported 
hundreds of feet below the precipices down which our 
tourists were threading their way. 

“Yes; and look; the little brown schoolhouse is always 
there, and the church with a white spire, pointing toward 
Heaven, — guardians of intelligence, — of peace on earth 
and good will toward all men.” i 

“You know,” continued Rollo, “Professor Alexis told 
us this Wai-pio was one of the celebrated valleys of the 
world. The precipices that form it on either side are 
from one to two thousand feet high. The waterfall 



201 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

which vaults into the left-hand branch at its head, with 
two distinct leaps, is two thousand feet high. This and 
Waimanu (Valley of Songsters) are huge gashes, not 
into Manna Kea, but the Kohala Mountains, separated 
from Mauna Kea by the high tableland of Waimea.” 

“Rollo, let us accept the invitation of Sam Parkman 
to visit his big ranch on Mauna Kea. He gave us a 
most kindly solicitation when we met him in Hilo.” 

“Pm agreeable,” returned Rollo; “and well start 
some time this week.” 

A few days later found Rollo, Russell and Barney on 
the way to Mauna Kea. The road ascended the almost 
precipitous side of Wai-pio by a zigzag route. Up, — , 
up, — up their horses climbed, until from the summit of 
the cliff they looked far down upon a ravishing land- 
scape, the broad valley bottom divided into taro and rice 
patches, fish ponds and coffee orchards. Through the 
midst of them ran a quiet river on whose bosom canoes 
carried traffic and passengers to the upper villages of 
the valley. The same luxuriance of tropical growth that 
prevailed at Waihalulu added the same charm here. The 
precipices were frescoed with an exuberant perpendicu- 
lar tapestry of forests and rampant growth of flowering 
plants, vines and giant ferns. Not far away, at the 
double head of the valley, enchanting waterfalls were 
vaulting, apparently out of the clouds that held the 
mountains in their close embrace. 

Up, up, the boys climbed again, through forests of 
ohia and koa trees, among which wandered herds of 
half-wild cattle and horses, with evidences on every side 
of abundant rains and moisture. When nearly 5>ooo 
feet elevation was reached, they suddenly burst from the 
tall timber, and another grand sight met their eyes. 

To the left were the grand dome and peaks of Mauna 
Kea, towering nearly 15,000 feet into the sky; its sum- 
mit, thirty miles distant, was glittering with ice and 


202 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

snow. Just visible behind it was the vast and far-away 
dome of Mauna Loa. Beyond that, frowning abruptlv 
on the ocean, was the recently extinct volcano of Huala- 
lai, nearly 10,000 feet high. To the right were the green, 
forest-embowered, cloud-wrapped Kohala Mountains. 
Between the four lay the great tablelands of Waimea, 
sloping down to the dry and rocky shores of Kawaihae 
Bay. 

“What an abrupt and striking change!” cried Rollo. 
“A mile or two behind us is the rampant forest, drenched 
with rain. Before us lays the tableland, grassy near the 
woods ; but not far away the wind is raising a red cloud 
of dry dust from the bare earth. Professor Alexis told 
us that these tablelands were not long ago clothed with 
an abundant forest and rains were frequent, but the 
goats and cattle have killed the trees and denuded the 
soil. Here is proof positive that forests bring rain, and 
bare earth drives it away.” 

Sundown found them at the Parkman ranch, on the 
northeast flank of Mauna Kea, having traveled many 
miles over the grassy uplands. These break seawardly 
into the many valleys and Eden-like Paradises of Hilo- 
paliku. 

For several days the boys enjoyed the excitement of 
roundups, branding, taming wild horses, and dispatching 
of beef cattle to Kawiaihae Bay for steamer shipment 
to Honolulu. 

“Fifty to seventy-five years ago,” said Mr. Ramsey, 
the ranchman in charge, “these mountain uplands of 
Hawaii were teeming with a hundred thousand wild 
bullocks, goats, boar and horses. In those days there 
were few sugar plantations; meat was almost valueless, 
and the game was slaughtered for the hides and tallow 
alone. But now, since the advent of the Chinese and 
Japs, there is a good market for beef and mutton, and 
the waste lands are being utilized for big ranches. One 


THE THATCHED HOUSE OP HAWAII (now gradually disappearing), was quite 'comfort- 
able. Built with upright posts and lateral poles, to which a tOugh grass was lashed with cocoa- 
nut sinnet it only needed a renewal of thatch once in 10 or 15 years. Cool and airy, it shed 
the rain perfectly, and when carpeted with pandanus mats and curtained with Kapas, could be 
kept exquisitely neat. 





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A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 203 

of them is about six hundred square miles in extent. 
There are still several thousands of the wild bullocks 
left; these we shoot or noose and sell the salt beef to 
nearby plantations. Tomorrow we begin a hunt for wild 
cattle and hogs in the woods below us. It’s mighty rough 
country and has the wildest kind of game, but if you 
have any extra sporting energy to work off, you may 
join.” 

“That’ll just suit me !” cried Rollo, eagerly. 

Russell was about to decline the dangerous adven- 
tures, when Barney whispered a few words in his ear. 
Instantly his enthusiasm was roused to the highest 
pitch, and they all hastened to make preparations for the 
hunt. 

The next morning at three o’clock, nearly a dozen 
Kanaka and half-white Spaniolas (vaqueros) set forth 
by moonlight for a tongue of the woods running up 
the mountain side, a few miles to the south of the 
hacienda. The boys were mounted on fresh horses and 
bullock catchers’ saddles. When the forest’s edge was 
reached, the jingling rowels of the big Mexican spurs 
were muffled and the cavalcade cautiously wended up- 
ward, keeping a sharp watch for their game. They had 
not long to wait. A low “Hist!” came from Antoine 
Sylva, the Spaniola in charge of the squad. Following 
the direction of his finger, the boys saw a herd of fifteen 
or twenty black and white cattle, a half mile distant. It 
was an inspiring sight for a true sportsman. 

“How do you know they are wild?” asked Russell. 

The vaquero pointed to the foot-tracks where the herd 
had issued from the woods. 

“Wild bullock eat in the night time; tame bullock go 
sleep. Wild bullock have toes, long, sharp; run in soft 
mud, in the woods. Tame have toes round ; walk on dry 
mountain side.” 

The riatas were now unslung and saddles recinched. 


204 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

Then the horses were led up a little ravine, until within 
a few hundred yards of the game. The day was now 
breaking. “Wind all right,” said Antoine. “Bullock no 
smell us.” 

Suddenly the big black bull, with a neck like a barrel, 
scented the danger and, uttering a low bellow, tossed his 
sharp horns aloft. The whole herd, instantly wheeling, 
surrounded him and gazed with savage looks at the 
crescent-shaped cordon of mounted vaqueros slowly ap- 
proaching. 

“They want to drive the bastes ez far as possible from 
the jungle before they break for cover,” explained Bar- 
ney. 

The cattle retreated slowly up the slope, baffled by 
this sudden cutting off of their retreat. The great 
shaggy bull, looking very much like a bison, with sundry 
short and savage bellows, indicated that he was ready 
either for a battle or a masterly stampede. 

“Look out! they’re going to break,” shouted Sylva. 
“Close in, and every man for himself 1 Charge I” 

Like a sudden whirlwind came the desperate brutes, 
flashing fire with their eyes, and tossing their heads and 
tails aloft. For a few moments the air was full of dust, 
swirling lassos, mingled with confused yells and orders. 

“Don’t touch the bull !” shouted Sylva. “I know him ! 
he’s an old devil ! — killed two of my horses already.” 

The warning came too late, however ; for one of the 
bullock catchers, a recent arrival from Ainepo, launched 
his riata fairly on the animal’s horns. Instantly, as the 
savage brute felt the noose tighten and jerk him around 
with a twang, he halted. Then came a quick turn of 
the rope around his captor’s loggerhead, and both horse 
and bull were thrown on their haunches by the strain. 
With a vindictive bellow, the furious brute charged and 
tossed the horse over and over on the sward, goring 
him several times. The vaquero barely escaped impale- 


205 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

ment by leaping into a nearby gully. Three shots fired 
rapidly from Sylva’s revolver so stunned the maddened 
bull that he was soon wound up to a tree. 

From the balance of the herd there was less danger. 
Madly, however, they tore down the slope, making a 
bee-line for the forest. Each vaquero singled out his 
game and goaded his horse with whip and spurs to his 
highest speed to come up with the animal. In this mad 
race their steeds vaulted over gullies, boulders and fallen 
trees. Every second was needed to overtake the swift 
fugitives before they plunged into the jungle fastnesses. 
One by one a half dozen were snared, mostly fat cows, 
the small fry being permitted to escape. 

Barney had succeeded by a desperately long throw in 
lassoing a fleet and full-grown heifer. He passed the 
data’s end to Rollo. 

“Take a turn on your loggerhead. Em going to lasso 
one more,” he shouted. “Your horse knows what to 
do.” 

It was a new and exciting experience for Rollo. He 
started for a tree around which to wind the vicious crea- 
ture. Suddenly Russell yelled: “Look out! She’s go- 
ing to charge!” 

Glancing backward, he saw her horns lowered. She 
was coming full tilt for his horse. He started to urge 
him forward, but too late. Just as she came within 
lunging distance, both hind hoofs of the wily bullock 
horse flew backward, and struck such a violent blow on 
her nose that her two nostrils flowed with gore. 

“Hurrah ! that steed has got some horse sense,” cried 
Russell. “And he’s knocked all the cow scents out of 
the heifer,” added Rollo. “Throw your lasso onto her 
horns.” 

Russell attempted this several times without success ; 
the heifer, meantime, making many wild and dangerous 
dashes for freedom, which Rollo’s horse resisted skil- 


206 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

fully, straining backward on the twanging lasso, until 
his haunches nearly touched the ground. 

“It looks so easy,” said Russell, “when the bullock 
catchers toss the lasso fifty or sixty feet and noose both 
horns,. My loop twists up like a crazy rattlesnake.” 

Finally, however, the noose becanle entangled in one 
foot and she was easily hauled up and lashed to the 
tree. 

The Irishman was the only one of the party who 
succeeded in roping two bullocks. 

“How do you get these ugly creatures to the planta- 
tions?” asked Russell. 

“We couple each one to a tame bullock,” returned 
Sylva, “and turn them into a big fenced corral. In a 
few days or weeks they may be driven (still coupled) 
almost anywhere.” 

A smoke signal was now raised, and by the time they 
had breakfasted a reinforcement of vaqueros, fresh 
horses, dogs and tame bullocks arrived from the hacienda. 

Selecting those most skilled in forest craft, Sylva now 
plunged into the jungle. After two or three miles of 
scrambling through tall timber, matted together with 
immense ie-ie vines, and dense underbrush, and having 
crossed a number of deep gulches by almost precipitous 
trails, they arrived at a stretch of forest a mile wide, 
running up and down between two impassable canyons, 
each several hundred feet deep. Everywhere the ground 
was soft and yielding to the horses’ hoofs, and the nar- 
row paths had been trampled into deep mud by the wild 
denizens of the jungles. Signs of bullocks were abun- 
dant. Suddenly Sylva exclaimed : 

“The dogs have left us ; listen for their om-ow” 

Just then a furious bellowing of two bulls, evidentl}' 
in desperate combat, was heard in close proximity. 

“There they are,” cried Rollo, “not a quarter of a 
mile away.” 


207 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

“Ten miles/’ said Sylva; and, noticing Russell’s in- 
credulous face, added : “They over the canyon, and you 
go five miles to the nearest crossing. Ah ! there she 
blows ! — hear the dogs. All hands hitch your horses ! 
off with the ropes ! Forward !” 

“Do they lasso the wild cattle in these woods on foot?” 
asked Russell a little anxiously. 

“Bedad, and that they don’t,” returned Barney. “Thim 
trees is so tangled you couldn’t swing aven a sick tomcat 
amongst them. They surround the big ones, and loop 
the loop, wid riatas, while the dogs are playin’ hide and 
go seek on ’em, under the ie-ie umbrellas. Here come 
the bow-wows, pell-mell ! It’s a cow and a calf. If 
’twas a bull, he’d stop and fight.” 

Just then the cow and her robust offspring shot past 
them on the down trail, followed by the dogs in full cry. 
A few rods below, in a more open swale, they found her 
defending her young from the hounds. When the 
hunters appeared, she darted away, then circled around, 
bellowing for her calf. 

Rollo was the first to reach and rescue the unfortunate 
bossy, who was bleating pitifully, while the dogs clung 
to him like flies. The mother was lassoed by a vaquero 
in one of her frenzied dashes toward her offspring. 

“Why! that’s a tame cow!” exclaimed Rollo. 

“Tame, your granny !” replied Sylva. “She’s a molly- 
coddle, as we call ’em, and one of the wildest. No 
brand on her, — this is the first time she ever see a man.” 

“What’s a molly-coddle? Those we hunted this morn- 
ing would as soon gore you as eat breakfast.” 

“Molly-coddles are youngish bullocks that’s never been 
out of this jungle, and never seen Kanakas, dogs or 
horses ; or anything to fight or be afraid of. There ain’t 
much fun in hunting them ; for soon as they are roped, 
they pretty quick lay down and sulk. Skin the calf. 


208 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

boys ; we’ll eat him for dinner. He be too badly chawed 
up to live.” 

“Now, we’ll get after some bigger game that’s worth 
while.” 

The dogs were put on the trail again, and before long 
their furious barking indicated that some large animal 
was brought to bay. The vaqueros separated to snare 
their quarry^ with nooses, skillfully placed in the paths, 
and concealed by fern leaves. Rollo and Russell found 
it almost impossible to penetrate beyond the beaten cat- 
tle trail. So densely were the saplings interlaced with 
rampant ferns, undergrowth and lianas, that they were 
forced to cut their way slowly with hatchet and heavy 
bowie knife. 

“There he is !” finally exclaimed Rollo ; “a big red bull, 
short horns and barrel-shaped neck. He’s at bay be- 
tween three trees, and has already trampled the under- 
brush into a wallow of mire while charging around at 
the dogs. What a magnificent specimen of strength and 
ferocity !” 

The three boys now climbed into a tree, almost over 
the bull’s head. 

“These ie-ie vines are so rampant,” cried Russell, “they 
make great pyramids of even the very highest trees. See, 
the vines are as large as your arm, and the terminal 
tufts of long pointed leaves are like umbrellas.” 

Barney tried in vain to launch his lasso through the 
tangle. “Ha ! see him toss up that big dog, — yelping and 
howling, — and catches him on his horns as he comes 
rollin’ down oflf the pyramid, and then crushes his ribs 
in with his feet!” 

To prevent further slaughter of the dogs, Barney now 
set fire to a dead bunch of ie-ie, and tossed it blazing onto 
the brute’s back. Furious with the scorching the bull 
dashed madly down the nearest trail. One of the vaqueros 
barely escaped the fate of the hound, by leaping into a 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 209 

branch over the trail as the savage bull charged at him. 
A yell from the Spaniolas and renewed loud yelping from 
the dogs announced that he had plunged into one of the 
nooses. When the boys reached the spot, they found him 
tearing around the tree to which the rope was lashed, the 
dogs hanging to his flanks and ears, like pendants to a 
chandelier. He was bellowing with impotent rage, and 
had already trampled the underbrush for twenty feet 
around the tree into the mud. A second rope was flung 
on his horns and he was moored between two trees by 
lariats running to each. 

‘Tf he was lashed to wan tree,” said Barney, “he’d 
ayther bate his own brains out, or walk off wid the tree.” 

The dogs were now put on the trail once more, and in 
half an hour their yelps were heard in two opposite di- 
rections. Sylva at once divided his forces and the boys 
joined the vaqueros that went dowii the ridge. 

They soon came up with three dogs who had a big lum- 
bering steer at bay, a black curly Galloway without horns. 

“He’s a stray from the tame herd,” said Barney; “the 
Spaniolas will bag /i/w in a jiffy; let’s follow the wild 
herd; here’s the tracks, — not five minutes old: we don’t 
need the dogs now.” 

As they proceeded, the ridge narrowed and they could^ 
see the two canyons joined a -short distance below, where 
the ridge suddenly plunged into a chasm. 

“Hurrah !” cried Rollo, “we’ve got them in a cul-de- 
sac. There’s only one trail. We’ll set our nooses a little 
below here, and when they break back we 11 stampede them 
right into our trap.” 

A few rods further, Barney halted with a low “Hist !” 
As they peered through the ie-ie vines, an inspiring scene 
was presented. Two big bulls were engaged in a duel, 
surrounded by a score of admiring cows and young cat- 
tle. With fierce bellows the combatants struggled for the 
mastery ; then backed off to paw the ground and throw 


210 


Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 


it on their backs. Then they attacked the rotten tree 
trunks laying around, goring them into fragments. The 
infliction of so much damage seemed to give them im- 
mense satisfaction. 

Suddenly one of the cows scented the hunters, and 
threw up her head in alarm. Instantly the whole herd 
sighted them and was off like a shot down the ridge. 
The boys could now see from this point that the two can- 
yons joined into one a few hundred yards below, the ridge 
terminating in a sheer plunge of many hundred feet. 
To their dismay, no cattle came in sight as they pro- 
ceeded, but the footprints showed they had gone down 
the incline on a gallop, tearing through all obstacles with 
insane velocity. 

“It looks like wholesale slaughter to follow the des- 
perate creatures \” exclaimed Russell. “They act as if 
they preferred to plunge over the precipice rather than 
encounter us. The underbrush and ferns are so dense, 
and the ridge so narrow, that we are in great danger 
ourselves. There ! the clouds have settled down and we 
are in a thick dark mist !” 

“Hist,’^ said Barney; “the game is only a few yards 
away : — I hear the bushes crackin’ below us. They can’t 
go any further, and we’ll get one with each lasso. Fol- 
low me, and kape whist as lobsters.” 

The boys now crept carefully down the declivity, which 
was growing steeper with every yard. The broken soil 
and torn vines showed the cattle were below them. To 
the right they could see a short precipitous ravine that 
gashed into their ridge and then emptied into the can- 
yon with a plunging waterfall. The sky grew darker. 
It was beginning to rain. The steepness increased and 
the jungle became more and more tangled, the ground 
almost precipitous. They clung to the trees as they low- 
ered themselves* from one trunk to another. Still Barney 
kept on, keen to secure the game, The tracks now sud- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 211 

denly turned at the edge of a precipice, and made to the 
right, toward the ravine. The underbrush suddenly 
ceased, and they found themselves on a very steep open 
slope, a hundred feet wide, covered with loose rocks and 
rubble, through which the cattle had plowed. Barney 
did not hesitate, but skipped across from one stone to 
another. His companions followed gingerly. Three rods 
more of steep underbrush and they emerged. They found 
the cattle were standing on the edge of the ravine. 

The whole herd was at bay. It was a desperate pre- 
dicament for both hunter and hunted. Below them was 
a steep rock, almost precipitous, whose dangers were 
concealed by ferns; under that boiled a caldron of mist, 
out of which came the roar of the cataract. Above was 
a sharp sloping bank. One of the bulls assayed to scale 
it, but the moist earth gave way and he tumbled back- 
wards. 

“Halt !” whispered Rollo ; “this is too dangerous work. 
Let us hide ourselves and then the desperate creatures 
will scramble back.’^ 

“First we’ll get one to each lasso,” said Barney, and 
he tossed his riata squarely onto the horns of a fat cow. 
He then quickly ran up the bank and lashed the rope to 
a stout tree. The cow bellowed and strained on the lariat. 
One bull now made a misstep on the slippery brink and 
began to slide down the rock. Suddenly the whole herd 
followed him, as if panic-stricken, sliding, struggling, 
scrambling, rolling over and over. They disappeared into 
the misty ravine, bellowing with agony and terror as they 
dropped through the tree tops. 

The boys were horror stricken. “Was there ever such 
insane desperation !” exclaimed Rollo. “No doubt every 
one perished on the rocks a hundred feet below. We 
must return ; it’s growing darker and the storm is about 
to break.” 

A terrific clap of thunder followed, then another and 


212 Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 

another ; — the thunderbolts striking the ridge above 
them. When half way across the open slope of loose 
rocks, Rollo was thrown down. Glancing instantly around 
he saw Barney and Russell were also prone and struggling 
in vain to rise. Small boulders came rolling down the 
declivity, and the air was suddenly full of dust and the 
roar of stones and gravel grinding together. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


213 


CHAPTER XVII. 


Ba^ey’s Heroism Saves their Lives. — They Land in the 
Ex1;?emo^ ^^^t below.— RusseH Learns what 

I^— Barney Invents a Patent Fire-Escape 
on^thi a Heiau, and Human Sacrifices 

suddenly Turns up.— They are 
Tattooed and Learn to Talk Fiji j' ‘j-rc 


HE terrible truth •Hashed upon him. 

The rocks and rubble of the slope were 
sliding into the canyon! A minute or two 
more and then, — an awful plunge ! 

He saw Barney scrambling on his hands 
and knees to get in line with a tree lying 
prone several rods below. Russell was beyond him. 

“Throw one end of your riata to Rollo,” shouted Bar- 
ney, “and fasten the other to your waist.’’ 

Russell obeyed and Rollo caught the noose. This man- 
euvre gave them little hope ; for the land slide was acquir- 
ing momentum. Faster and faster fell the loose rocks 
and gravel down the incline. In an agony of terror all 
three boys were struggling to reach the tree. They were 
nearing the edge of the precipice and could hear the roar 
of the rocks crashing on the boulders in the canyon far 
beneath them. The riata would slip over the tree unless 
Barney reached it. With the greatest peril to his life 
he bounded downward, grasped the rope, pressing it to 
the bark of the tree’s trunk. It was slipping away from 
him, and the critical moment was at hand. 

“Howld still till I lash it wid a thong,” he shouted. 
This done he fastened his own riata with an unslippable 
knot (a whale hitch) to the smooth trunk. In a few min- 
utes all three climbed astride of it. 

“God be praised for this deliverance !” exclaimed Rus- 




214 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


sell. ‘‘This tree is only three inches in diameter, but it’s 
a better friend than the precipice under us.” 

“And, Barney, we owe our lives to your quick thought 
and heroism,” added Rollo. “Three seconds more and 
the rope would have whisked over the branches and we 
with it into the canyon.” 

“An’ didn’t you save my life on the Fay Yan, just be- 
fore she blew up?” returned the Irishman, brushing a 
tear from his eye. “Before God I wud have given me 
own safety for yours.” 

The storm had now burst in all its fury, and became 
a torrential cloud-burst. The spot where they sat being 
in a depression, a little freshet from the declivity poured 
directly over them. “What started that rock slide into 
motion?” said Russell. “Was it those heavy brutes that 
had just ploughed through the rubble?” 

“Perhaps,” returned Rollo, “but more likely those ter- 
rific claps of thunder.” 

“Misther Russell,” interrupted Barney, grasping his 
arm, “it wor nayther of thim. It was an earthquake ! 
I grabbed at a solid rock, whin I was capsized, and it was 
all of a trimble. The Saints presarve us ! Look there !” 
The boys glanced in tlie direction of Barney’s finger and 
saw to their dismay that the dashing water was under- 
mining the tree’s roots and the rock that rested on them. 
Barney was busy in a second. Cutting off a yard from 
the ring end of his lariat, he lashed it to the tree; then 
hastily splicing the other lassoes together, threaded them' 
through the ring. 

“I’m going down to that tree below,” he said, and in a 
twinkling went sliding down the double rope. Sixty feet 
below, the boys saw for the first time in the dense mist a 
small ohia. When the Irishman reached it, he shouted : 
“Come down the rope ; this tree is safer.” 

When they had joined him he drew down the lariats, 
leaving the ring. A few minutes later both tree and rock 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 215 

slid down, barely missing them, and plunged into the can- 
yon, two hundred feet underneath. The boys shuddered. 
They were now on the brink of a sheer precipice. 

Barney, ’ said Rollo, “we are in great danger. A 
boulder from the slope may decapitate us like a cannon 
ball, and this rock supporting the tree is already trem- 
bling in the balance.” 

“There’s a mamani tree half way down the pali,” said 
Barney. 

“But that’s thirty feet to one side,” returned Russell. 

“It may be our only hope,” muttered Rollo. “It’s 
sure death to attempt to remount the declivity; but first, 
let us shout all together; possibly the paniolos mav hear 
us.” 

All three yelled and halooed in unison, but the only 
answer was a succession of echoes from the many pahs 
around. Barney now looped his double lasso over the 
ohia and slid over the precipice. 

“He’s perfectly crazy,” muttered Russell. 

“But there is some method in his madness,” returned 
Rollo. “See, he has got both feet in the terminal noose, 
and begins to raise and dip his body. Now he’s swinging 
like a pendulum. We’ll help it vibrate.” 

In ten minutes more the Irishman had caught the 
mamani tree and lashed his rope to it : then he assisted the 
boys to descend. In another ten minutes, by the same 
tactics, they landed in the tops of the koa trees that filled 
the canyon bottom. So great was their relief from the ten- 
sion of momentary expectation of death, that when they 
had fairly reached terra firma, the three boys kneeled 
down and wept tears of gratitude on each other’s should- 
ers, for their providential and almost miraculous escape. 

Suddenly a falling boulder crashed on the rocks but 
a few feet away. “We forget,” cried Rollo, leaping up; 
“the rock slide is still in motion and we are squarely un- 
der it!” 


216 Adventures of Hollo in Hawaii 

The rain was still falling, and a swollen torrent rag- 
ing in the river bed. A dozen waterfalls were leaping 
from the declivities and palis. A single sweep of the 
eyes was sufficient to show them that the canyon walls 
were absolutely inaccessible. They made a trip down the 
gorge for a half mile, over the rocTs and debris piled up 
on its bottom; but it brought them suddenly to another 
waterfull and sharp break in the floor of the canyon. It 
made the boys’ faces blanche to gaze down this still more 
dizzy plunge. Barney pulled a ball of twine from his 
pocked, and attaching his hunting knife for a weight 
measured the depth. 

“Fifty fathoms,” (three hundred feet) he muttered; 
“and the combined length of our three lariats is only two 
hundred and twenty-five feet.” 

“If there was a deep pool of water, we could chance a 
plunge for the other seventy-five feet,” said Rollo; “but 
this waterfall breaks directly on the rocks. There is no 
friendly half way tree or ledge here.” 

“It’s growing dark and chilly,” exclaimed Russell. 
“Let us camp and leave the flying machine problem for 
tomorrow.” 

An overhanging ledge gave them dry shelter from the 
rain. Barney built a rousing fire on the solid rock floor, 
then swept away the ashes and replaced them with dry 
sand. Upon this warm bed the boys slept w‘th great 
comfort. They supped on a few wild beans (papapa), 
wrapped and roasted' in ti leaves, the only eatables to be 
found in the canyon. 

Toward daybreak Russell touched Rollo’s arm. “Per- 
haps it’s a dream, or my imagination, but I certainly 
heard an echo like a dog’s bark and the crowing of roos- 
ters down beyond the break in the canyon.” 

“A sandalwooder’s camp, perhaps,” returned Rollo. 
“Let us hope so, at any rate.” 

“An’ sure, wasn’t it St. Peter got into a hape of trou- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 217 

ble wid the crowing of the cocks?” muttered Barney 
drowsily in his sleep. 

“We lack seventy-five feet of lariat,” continued Russell ; 
“there’s absolutely nothing to eat here, not even another 
wild bean. They’re not bad eating, but the strong 
odor outranks a brigadier general. I’m so hungry now, 
I believe I could even eat one of Kaikoo’s octopus squids.” 

“If we had a Kanaka mountaineer with us,” returned 
Rollo, “he probably could find all the food we need. 
They say you can’t starve or drown a Polynesian, eithe’* 
on sea or land. We left our guns at the ranch, or we 
could shoot ducks, geese and plover.” 

“Unless a relief party from the ranch finds us,” added 
Russell gloomily, “I can’t see as we have much hope. 
There ain’t any ravens on Mauna Kea to bring us food, 
as they did to Elijah, are there?” 

The storm had spent itself, and the dawn was fair and 
bright. All day they searched in vain for something eat- 
able. There were no fruits or berries in the thickets, or 
even shrimps or shellfish in the stream. 

“I’m getting weaker and fainter every hour,” said 
Russell. “I wish I had never said a word against raw 
fish or squid and poi. They would taste like ambrosia 
of the gods just now. If we should stumble onto a 
mountain village, I believe we’d create a famine there in 
about a quarter less than no time.” 

Toward nightfall as they were sitting gloomily around 
a little fire, Rollo said, “Barney, can’t you invent some 
way to cook the lariats into soup? I’ve heard that is pos- 
sible. We’ll be too weak to crawl out of the valley unless 
help comes pretty soon.” 

“Bedad and I’ve got it now!” exclaimed the Irishman, 
instantly leaping to his feet. “Thim lariats will save us, 
but not in the shape av soup. We’ll un-reeve one av the 
riatas and lengthen the rope ladder wid poles lashed to- 
gether by the thongs.” 


218 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

"Hurrah!” cried Rollo, “what a set of jackasses we 
are to sit here starving two days, like bumps on a log, 
and not think of that simple ingenuity. To arms! dear 
friends; cut down the long saplings, and bring them to 
the rescue !” 

The Irishman now sallied forth, and with his hatchet 
chopped down young ohias, while Rollo and Russell 
trimmed them with their hunting knives and cut notches 
and hooks into their ends, to prevent the thongs and 
poles from slipping apart. After soaking a half of one 
rawhide lasso in the stream for two hours, it was un- 
braided; and by midnight Barney had over a hundred 
feet of them spliced continuously together. They supped 
very abstemiously on a few tiny bird’s eggs, and greens 
of p'ualele (sow thistles). 

“Tm too hungry to sleep,” said Russell, as they laid 
down to wait for the dawn, “but doesn’t this remind you 
of Herman Melville’s famous adventures in the Typee 
valley, with his chum Toby? We read it in that fascinat- 
ing book, ‘The Children of Nature in the Valley of 
Beauty.’ ” 

“Very much,” returned Rollo; “but remember, he and 
Toby had no ropes, and were compelled to crawl down 
the precipices hundreds of feet, clinging to bushes, vines 
and roughness of the rocks. It took them five days to 
make as many miles, and finally, as the last desperate 
resort, they leaped down twenty-five feet into the tops 
of the trees.” 

“Ugh,” returned Russell, “I don’t want to think of such 
things on an empty stomach. I’m going to call Bar- 
ney’s new contraption 'Morrissey's Patent, Duplex, Ellip- 
tic, Double Back Action, Combination Life-preserver and 
Fire-escape.’ ” 

As the sun arose, Barney lowered the boys separately 
over the dizzy precipice with his ingenious device, and 
then came down himself, hand over hand. His method 



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A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 219 

of recovering the lariats was very scientific. Just before 
descending he fastened then to a tree by a bow-knot, the 
loose end of which was tied to a fragment of lava. This 
he left supported by a figure four trap, to which was 
attached his length of twine. Arriving at the bottom 
he jerked the twine, the lava rock leaped the precipice, 
bringing the ropes and poles with it. The boys now strug- 
gled through a jungle of the wildest and most rampant 
kind for a quarter of a mile to the next waterfall. 

“There’s a thatched native house in full sight down 
the valley,” exclaimed Russell. “Thank Providence we 
are near civilization at last.” 

‘‘Begorra, it don’t resemble very much the Waldorf 
Astoria,” remarked Barney ; “an’ I don’t like the looks of 
thim gintlemin in the paddock behind it.” 

“Good heavens !” cried Rollo, “they’re hideous idols, 
some of them twenty feet high.” 

It did not take very long to make this descent, though 
the leap was nearly two hundred feet. They approached 
the native house with caution, for its heathenish sur- 
roundings boded no good. The only doorway to the hut 
was closed by a pandanus mat. After shouting a salu- 
tation in Kanaka with no response, Barney lifted it and 
they crawled through the opening. The house contained 
little besides calabashes, mats and a poi trough. 

“Look at that long row of hideous, wide mouthed idols 
hanging by their necks to a pole,” whispered Russell. ' 

“An’ Mother av Moses! it’s another Golgotha! Look 
at thim skulls!” and Barney pointed to an extensive col- 
lection of grinning craniums, perched on pegs. 

From the hut they turned to the stockade in its rear, 
enclosed by a high wall of lava rocks and boulders, with 
upright trunks of trees. As there was no opening they 
clambered over, and leaped in. It was about an acre in 
size. 

“Howly smoke !” ejaculated the Irishman. “It’s the 


220 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

stench av the bottomless pit that’s wafted into our smell- 
ers !” 

“No, it is not,” returned Russell. “It’s only the odors 
of extreme dissolution emitted by those two black pigs, 
laying on the stone altar before this largest deity. Isn’t 
he a beauty ? His head is the largest part of him, and his 
mouth the largest part of the head.” 

“Oh! Rollo, look there! Three ghastly skeletons of 
human bodies, mouldering on this stone altar before the 
hideous images. And here’s another altar with a dog, 
goat and yams on it. The grewsome sight and horrible 
smells make me sick and faint. This is indeed the abode 
of the demons, and the evil spirits are not far away,” and 
Russell was about to retreat over the lava wall. 

“Russell,” said Rollo sternly, “if you are so supersti- 
tious as to see anything supernatural about this old 
heathen heiau, then get right down on your knees to this 
most villainous looking of all the plug-uglies (and he 
gave the idol a kick), and ask him to exorcise you. As 
for the corpses, you wouldn’t be a particle afraicj of 
them if they were alwe. How much more dangerous 
are they after the spark of life has ‘fled, and they are 
as dead as Jidiiis Caesar?” 

“I believe my squeamishness was only momentary,” 
returned Russell, looking very sheepish ; and to reassure 
his companions of this, began to rummage every corner 
of the temple for portable curiosities and relics. 

The- boys now began to search the valley for some- 
thing to eat. Not a vestige of cultivation was to be seen, 
save a single stick of sugar cane; this they divided and 
chewed ravenously. Proceeding down the valley, they 
suddenly were halted by another precipice and waterfall, 
which had a plunge of over one hundred and fifty feet. 
They gazed in vain at the canyon walls for a friendly 
slope that might give them access to the ridge. 

“What does this mean?” said Rollo. “Surely the Kan- 


221 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

akas are too lazy to live in a spot to which all supplies 
must be brought by a balloon, or similar laborious trans- 
portation. Let us try the stream again for shrimps and 
oopus.’' 

They had not proceeded far, when forth from a thicket 
stepped a Hawaiian, carrying on his auamo (shoulder 
pole), a pai-ai of poi, and a calabash of fish and dried 
squid. On his person was not a shred of clothing except 
a malo (narrow loin cloth). He had exchanged a quiet 
aloha, and a few words with Barney, and extended his 
hand to Rollo, before they recognized him. 

It was Hiwahizm, the high priest of Pele. 

“He bids us welcome,” said Barney; “but asks why 
we force ourselves prematurely into the taboo place 
of the gods of Hawaii. He won’t believe we came down 
the canyon. Only the wild geese, he says, could do 
that.”^ ' 

“Show him your patent fire-escape,” returned Russell ; 
“and tell him we’re just hungry enough to eat a fried 
baboon on toast, or a barbecued boa constrictor. We 
won’t have to waylay him to get into that calabash of 
poi, will we?” 

“And don’t forget' to give his holiness our compli- 
ments, and the assurances of our distinguished consider- 
ation,” added Rollo. And he whispered to Russell, ‘T 
bet it will shatter Barney’s vocabulary to put that into 
Kanaka lingo.” 

“Yes; it would give the Kahuna a swelled head for a 
whole gross of Sundays,” returned Russell. 

On viewing the cliff scaling apparatus, Hiwahiwa said 
no more, but hastened with Barney’s aid to pound the 
poi and roast fish in ti leaves and squid on the coals. It 
was not long before Russell was matching the priest’s 
two Ungers in the calabash, and acknowledged that this 
poi and squid was the most welcome meal he had ever 
eaten. 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


222 


“He tells me,” said Barney, “that Paliuli is near by 
here; but, bedad, the only white man that is ever let in, 
is Jim Hicks, and that’s because of the demnition scan- 
dalous foine flavor of his ti root rum, and his imkine 
being brought up in the valley. They are outlaws in 
there, and some unwelcome intruders have disappeared 
very suddenly.” 

“I have it, then,” cried Russell. “We’ll go in as South 
Sea Islanders. You can color us up for Fijians, can’t you, 
Barney? You can talk Irish, and Rollo and I French; — 
and how in Sancho Panza can they tell then, but what we 
are cannibals, the real simon pure article? But what 
about these human sacrifices out in the heiau ?” 

“The praste tells me they died a natural death, afther 
a drap too much av Jim Hicks’ potheen. They were 
sandalwooders from the coast, an’ slipped off forninst the 
pricipice.” 

It was finally decided that they enter the Emerald Val- 
ley the next morning. Barney and the priest gathered the 
necessary roots and bark, and boiled them, while Rollc 
and Russell busied themselves in producing a fine quality 
of lamp black from burned candlenuts. By midnight the 
three boys were brown as Indians and the Irishman had 
so cleverly imitated in lampblack, the tatooing of a Fijian 
chief on their faces and breasts, that their own parents 
would have repudiated them with indignation. 

“He says we must be blindfolded a part of the way,” 
said Barney. 

“Then we won't go!" cried Russell, stoutly. “That mav 
be a trick of his to slip us off the precipice, and we’ll wind 
up the entertainment on one of the altars in the heiau.” 

“But I’ll punch a little hole in me blinders,” whispered 
Barney, “an’ give you plenty av warning, if the praste 
acts suspiciously.” 

Leading the three blindfolded boys by a cord, Hiwahi- 
wa guided them over an easy route to the cliff, and they 


223 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

heard him remove several stones from a cave opening. 
Having entered here, he lighted a candlenut torch and 
relieved them of their kapa eye shades. From this point 
they proceeded with full use of their eyes. The cavern 
tunnel soon terminated in a ravine filled with glorious sun- 
shine, in which the birds twittered in hundreds of full 
grown orange, mango, guava, pomegranate, cherimoya 
and other fruit trees. These, Barney explained, were 
planted forty years before by Minelulu’s great-grand- 
father, the hermit sailor. Nearly all tropical fruit trees 
were here represented. Hiwahiwa now led them to a 
grove of tall ohia trees, and selecting one of them, as if 
at random, began to climb. At its summit they found 
themselves only a dozen feet from the cliff ; to this the 
priest crossed by a branch, and soon returned with a 
short swinging bridge, constructed of bamboo. Over this 
it was easy to enter a second tunnel through which they 
quickly passed. 

“Once more blindfolded,” said Barney, “just for a few 
seconds only.” 

They emerged into a flood of sunshine and Hiwahiwa 
at once unbound their heads. The air was full of the 
music of a thousand birds, and the silvery dash of three 
most beautiful waterfalls that leaped from hidden vales 
above, into a pellucid lake. The whole valley bottom was 
a bower of fruit trees, palms and flowers, interspersed 
with smooth green swards of velvety manienie grass, 
patches of kalo, gardens of yams, manioc and sweet po- 
tatoes. 


224 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


CHAPTER XVIIL 

The Emerald Valley is Indeed a Beulahland. — They Visit 
the Princess Minelulu. — She is Attired in the Priceless Feather 
Mantle. — McGregor’s Wonderful War-Canoe. — Minelulu Tells 
of the Exciting Days of Old Hawaii. — Her Kindergarten Pupils 
have Immortal Souls Inside; but not Many Clothes Outside. — 
Russell Eats Delicious Baked Dog Unawares. 

this not the most enchanting landscape 
^ we have seen yet?” exclaimed Rollo. 

f “Behind us rises Mauna Kea the Grand, 
with peaks of snow and ice, glistening 
^ above the clouds ; these surround its 
flanks like the rings of Saturn, long 
wavy platoons of them like wild geese, following 
one another. To the left we see the smiling moun- 
tains of Kohala, gashed to the very heart by the 
huge canyons, — terrific, yet beautiful, — of Waipio and 
Waimanu. Beyond looms up against the sky, the mighty 
volcano Hale-aka-la, grim, desolate, dead ; a serrated 
punchbowl, holding within its rim the biggest fire crater 
of the world. Then comes the blue Pacific, smiling, 
wimpling, dimpling in the sunshine, rolling its wavelets 
into those pretty palm girt harbors, with the ceaseless 
murmur of a thousand years. Far away to the right come 
the sugar plantations of Onomea, — Hakalau, — Laupa- 
hoehoe : oases of lemon yellow sweetness, in a dark green 
wilderness of rampant forests, laughing valleys and vine 
clad precipices. Silvery waterfalls, — rose tinted rain- 
bows, — and joyful streamlets, — everywhere ! uncouth and 
common things nowhere!” 

“Yes, that is the setting of the gem,” added Russell; 
“and here is the pearl, — the valley itself. It reminds you 
both of Aladdin’s lamp, and the garden of rubies in which 
he found it. If you want fruits, here they are; golden 
bananas and oranges plantains and papai-yas ; — hon- 
eyed dates and ohias ; cocoanuts and breadfruits in wild 



225 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

profusion. Ask for flowers and you may luxuriate in 
roses and chrysanthemums, crocuses and lilies. The prec- 
ipices are all glorious with passion flowers and night 
blooming cereus. If your soul thirsts for green lawns 
and running brooks, they spring up like magic; look at 
them ; velvety swards, hundreds of tiny cascades, fairy 
bowers and leafy vine clad grottos. The Rocky Mount- 
ains have the Garden of the Gods, but this is the Eden of 
the Fairies, the pre-eminent beauty spot of the Pacific; 
not only a Paradise, but a fortress as well, walled in by 
unscaleable precipices and uncrossable canyon moats. 
And, Rollo, those grass thatched houses, embowered by 
luxurious palms and bananas, are far from being the 
abodes of civilized man. Their inmates are typically ‘The 
Children of Nature in the Valley of Beauty’ !” 

It was a relief to the boys that the priest quartered 
them with Bolabola, a runaway sailor and a South Sea 
Islander, instead of extending his own hospitality. The 
vision of those reeking human bodies, offerings to his 
hideous deities, gave them a mortal aversion to the sinis- 
ter old pagan. They took kindly to the Marquesan, and 
he to them; for having been a cabin boy on a sperm 
whaler, though his parents were cannibals, yet he had a 
sincere hatred, both for the horrid practices of his own 
people, and the paganism of Paliuli. 

“We are supposed to know only a few words of En- 
glish,” said Rollo ; “how shall we manage to communicate 
when we are not alone?” 

''Let us talk pig French”'^ returned Russell, “as we used 
to at school. Barney is shrewd and will soon catch the 
trick. The dialect is so outlandish, no one can possibly 
detect it as ‘United States.’ ” 

“Ca pit a pal ! I pam a gre pa ble to thapat. (Capital ! 

*Tn Pi? French, an extra consonant (usually a labial), is 
repeated in each principal word. For in.stance, “Ja-pack and 
Ji-pill we-pent up tho hipill,” is the adaptation of Jack and 
Jill went up the hill.” It is an easy dialect to talk, and under- 
stand, but is Choctaw to the uninitiated. 


226 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

Fm agreeable to that),'*’ replied Rollo. “We can easily 
work that off for genuine Fijian, which Barney says is 
more Papuan than Polynesian. By the way, where has 
he so suddenly disappeared to?” 

“Can’t you guess? Of course he is now basking in the 
smiles of his adored Dulcinea, the Princess Minelulu.” 

The Irishman soon reappeared and informed them that 
Minelulu was present in the valley. She had arrived sev- 
eral weeks before, and was receiving the genuine hom- 
age of her feudal retainers. Though the leadership was 
nominally vested in her uncle Kalulu ; yet, she had more 
royal blood in her veins, and was the choice of the tribe 
as chieftess, whenever she might elect to assume the pow- 
er. For the present, however, she was satisfied with the 
homage. He told them how she shed tears of joy when 
Hiwa-hiwa brought him into her presence ; for after leav- 
ing the Fay Yan she had mourned him for dead, and onlv 
a strong faith in his shrewdness and determination had 
kept the flame of hope alive. 

It was evening when they sauntered forth to view 
the village and its people. There was no street, or even 
pretense of a highway. Each house was on its own 
sward and connected with its neighbor by a narrow 
pathway. With Bolabola they visited many of the 
groups of Kanakas, as they sat around their outdoor 
fires, roasting squid, fish or dried goat meat or pound- 
ing baked kalo or breadfruit with stone pestles. Nearly 
everywhere they were regarded with suspicion, and met 
with discourtesy. Until long past midnight the younger 
people, without regard to sex or age, gathered around 
the fires, chewing awa, ti-root or sugar cane, listening 
to the bards as they sat crosslegged, whirling gourd 
rattles, and chanting meles or kanikaus (epic and tragic 
songs). Many of these were so disgustingly obscene, by 
reason of improper word or gesture, that the boys were 
driven to search for other and less revolting pastimes. 


227 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

'‘What a striking difference between this and what we 
saw of Hawaiian life at Wai-halulu,” said Russell the 
next morning. “There, everyone greeted his neighbor 
with a hearty and kindly ‘Aloha’ (love to you) ; here we 
have not heard that word once. There, we were wel- 
come in every gathering, and someone was sure to offer 
fruit or some other delicacy, and appeared hurt if you 
did not accept it. Here, they pay no attention, and we 
have to offer money or barter to get even bananas, of 
which they have thousands, and feed to the swine. There, 
with the exception of the fishermen at work outside the 
reefs, everyone was clothed both decently and taste- 
fully. Here, only the older women wear holokus, the 
children are absolutely nude, the young people and most 
of the men wear nothing but the scanty malo (loin- 
cloth). In Wai-halulu we very seldom saw. or heard an 
improper expression or suggestion. Here the most of 
their conversation runs to things that are unfit for civi- 
lized people to converse about.” 

“Yes,” returned Rollo; “and that is not the worst of 
it. Bolabola has hinted to me of some things that will 
shock us, notwithstanding we were well fortified and 
forewarned before coming into the valley. 

“He says that na such thing as marriage is known 
here. Some of the better ones live faithfully as man 
and wife, but free love is the rule. Many of the children 
do not know who their parents are, and many of the 
mothers could not tell who were the fathers of their chil- 
dren. And that is not the worst of it. Down by the 
heiau, in the lower corner of Paliuli, there is a grove 
of luxuriant candlenut trees, and beneath them the 
ground is full of human remains. It is sad to think 
of it. For hundreds of years, perhaps thousands, the 
larger part of the infants born in the valley have been 
buried there by hags, who made it their business; yes, 
buried alive!” 


228 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

“Is not that awful, Rollo? It would seem that the 
only real comfort and satisfaction that a dweller of the 
place could enjoy is in living under his own vine and 
fig tree.” 

“His own!” exclaimed Rollo. “What a mockery. 
They do not own anything. Everything in this valley 
belongs to the chief, and he can at will take the land 
away from one man and give it to another. There is 
no recourse. It is the same feudal system that existed 
in Europe before the Middle Ages, and it existed in 
Hawaii until the missionaries induced the king and 
chiefs to give the people a constitution, and divide the 
lands equitably among all their subjects.” 

“Then, again,” continued Russell, “every Hawaiian 
in Wai-halulu over six years old could read and write. 
They had many books, and nearly all read the weekly 
newspapers from Hilo and Honolulu. And what a con- 
trast is here. I don’t believe there is a soul in Paliuli 
that can read, except Bolabola and Minelulu. Apart 
from house-building, mat-weaving, kapa-beating and the 
cultivation and preparation of their food, their educa- 
tion and knowledge appears to be as slim as that of 
their swine and dogs. In Wai-halulu, with the excep- 
tion of Jim Hicks’ ranch, the houses were neat and 
clean, and they had many modern civilized comforts. 
Here the most of their huts are disorderly, and begrimed 
with smoke. Old and young appear to live promiscuous- 
ly with the pigs, poultry and curs.” 

“They don’t even know how to make their own rum, 
and buy it of Jim Hicks.” 

“And this, by the way, is the ideal social life, which 
Jim Hicks and thousands of others of his class in the 
Pacific Ocean, claim existed before the missionaries 
came here and ‘mined the country.' But, Russell, there 
is something to be learned, even from barbarians. This 
may be the only opportunity of our lives to study savage 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 229 

existence in its primitive state and original simplicity. 
It is revolting in the extreme in some respects, but we 
must be willing to suffer a little in the cause of science.’’ 

‘‘Hello, Barney! what’s this? An invitation from her 
Highness, did you say ? Elegant court stationery, too ! 
monogram and crest! ' Say, Russell, this doesn’t look 
very barbarous, either. Written in a beautiful lady’s 
hand, too !” 

“The Princess Minelulu requests the pleasure of the 
company of Mr. Morrissey’s friends, Rollo and Russell, 
to partake of a Hawaiian hiau at her summer chateau, 
Paliuli, this afternoon at two o’clock.” 

“Don’t decline, gintilmin,” said Barney; “it will be a 
very swell affair.” 

The boys looked at each other in amazement and dis- 
may. 

“Oh, horrors !” exclaimed Russell. “The idea of at- 
tending a royal dinner and reception in our plain hunt- 
ing clothes, dark as negroes, and hideous with Fijian tat- 
tooing and lamp-black! Excuse me!” 

“Don’t mind thim little thrifles,” returned the Irish- 
man. “Her ladyship has sent you some decorations 
av flowers, necklaces av pandanus nuts and sharks’ teeth, 
and belts av foine sea shells and wampum pearls. Whin 
I’ve scrubbed away the tattooing, ye won’t know your- 
selves by rayson of the Polynesian iligance av yer tog- 
gery.” 

“All right, Barney,” said Rollo. “We are in your 
hands. But meanwhile we want to saunter around the 
valley and see what is going on by daylight.” 

Although it was ten o’clock, and the sun blazing into 
the valley, yet few of the thriftless Kanakas of the vil- 
lage were stirring. Some of the older men were in the 
garden patches, weeding their tobacco, ava and arrow- 
root plants with an o-o, or long-handled blubber spade. 


230 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


To do this they squatted on their heels, anl worked the 
ground around them in a sitting position. 

“What’s the noise we hear in yonder short ravine, 
opening off from the valley?” asked Russell*; — “a quick, 
sharp stroke, sounding like kow-kow-kow ! from early 
morning into the night.” 

“That,” said Bolabola, “is old woman beating kapa. I 
show you.” 

When they reached the low hut, consisting of a 
thatched lean-to set against the pali, they found in it 
three gray-headed women, clad most scantily in cotton 
and kapa skirts, seated crosslegged before a heavy beam, 
one side of which had been flattened smooth with an 
adze. On this were laid the large sheets of bark cloth, 
which they struck continuously with an iron-wood four 
square club. As the piece of cloth grew larger, the ar- 
tisan skillfully added to the thin spots a reinforcement 
of prepared pulp, wetting and beating the fabric day 
after day, until it had reached the necessary evenness 
and toughness. 

“Why, it resembles gold beating, doesn’t it?” said 
Russell ; “only in this case, the material is not metal, 
but a paste of ground bark.” 

“And here is a calabash full of the bark,” said Rollo, 
“as tough as manilla rope; can the kapa be washed 
when soiled?” 

“Oh! yes,” returned Bolabola, “can be soak, but not 
rub.” 

“Here is a coverlet of it, ready for use; several thick- 
nesses joined at the edges. These beautiful decorations 
are stamped on with those engraved slats of bamboo,” 
added Barney. 

“And the Kanaka who invented that came pretty near 
to discovering the art of printing.” remarked Rollo. 

“And do the Marquesans make kapa?” asked Rollo of 
Bolabola. 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 231 

“Yes, only more fine. Tahiti, too; New Zealand, 
Samoa, Fiji, Raratonga. Everywhere in Pacific, you 
find wauke grow in mountain, make kapa; everywhere 
kalo grow, make poi; everywhere make canoe with out- 
rigger ; everywhere eat raw fish, baked dog, roast squid, 
drink ava, pray idols in heiau. Kanakas, they like one 
family. But you come to Malays, Borneo, New Guinea, 
Java and West, wagh! all different! eat rice, drink sake, 
pray to Booda in big temple. Dyaks in Borneo, — kill 
other Dyak, — hunt heads. Kanakas all love each other.” 

But, Bolabola, ’ said Russell. “The Marquesans are 
noted cannibals, — eat their prisoners of war. That’s not 
love for one another. Not as the Bible teaches.” 

“You mistake. When white man love his wife he 
get very near to her,— he kiss her. When Marquesan 
love his enemy, he get more near to him , — put him inside, 
— make one man out of two.” 

“Bolabola,” said Rollo, “I see opposite there a cave 
half way up the precipice, with a thatched veranda over 
its mouth; do people really live there?” 

“Oh, yes! That very good house, no leaks by the 
rain. We shall go see it?” 

“All right,” said Rollo, “but this is the first instance 
I have known of the Kanakas being cave-dwellers.” 

“Professor Alexis says it’s common in dry districts,” 
added Russell. 

The approach lay over an accumulation of immense 
angular boulders, which had been once thrown from the 
cliff by a violent earthquake. Between these had sprung 
up a rampant growth of papaiya trees, lemons and 
guavas, ti-plants, wild beans, magnificent morning 
glories, passion flowers and calabash (gourd) vines. 
They were compelled to leap like goats from one rock 
to another, and then scale several dangerous ledges to 
reach the grotto. 

Within it they found a capacious chamber, divided by 


232 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

kapa curtains. It was evidently the abode of several 
families. They were met by an old heathen of sinister 
appearance with scowls and suspicious aspect. These 
were relaxed, however, when Russell proposed to buy 
some of his handiwork. He then ascended a ledge in 
the cavern, and took, from a pole on which they hung, 
several covered calabashes and exhibited their contents. 

“Oh, Rollo!” said Russell, “here are just what we 
have been looking for. A niho palaoa (whales’-tooth 
ornament, suspended from a necklace of braided human 
hair) ; a wooden adze with a cutting edge of hard 
syenite ; a beautiful many-colored Niihau mat, woven of 
fine rushes ; a woman’s necklace with elegant mother of 
pearl pendants ; a spear head beaten out of a marline 
spike ; bracelets of red and black coral, also of brilliant 
colored little polished shells ; little images of Kalaipahoa 
(the poison god), in iron wood; polished kukui nut 
linger rings ; little kahilis of red and golden feathers ; 
fish hooks carved of bone, — human bones, too. I’ll wager, 
— gourd water bottle covered with finely woven bamboo 
splits ; gimlets, dirks and saws ; these were beaten out of 
ship’s nails, spikes and hoop iron.” 

“And, most valuable of all,” continued Rollo, “a neck- 
lace of the golden feathers of the mamo bird ; — those 
feathers couldn’t be replaced at fifty cents each ; and, oh 
joy ! here are sandalwood boxes and trinkets galore.” 

“We have just struck a bonanza ! This old savage is in- 
genious and industrious; he’s been collecting some and 
patiently fabricating others, all his life-time,” chimed in 
Russell. 

“Don’t select too many to start with,” returned Rollo. 
“We will come up here every day and do a little nego- 
tiating. If he gets a notion we are anxious, or flush with 
money, his prices will soar skyward. Otherwise we can 
buy all we can carry away for a few dollars.” 

This conversation was carried on in pig-French, much 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 233 

to the mystification of the Marquesan and Kamalu, the 
Kanaka antiquarian, to whom Bolabola explained, “Ua 
maa lauaika namu Figi”; then translated the remark, 
“He plenty much Fiji palaver.” 

At one o’clock Barney conducted his friends to the 
residence of Minelulu. This comprised several commo- 
dious grass houses, enclosed by a stone wall, surrounded 
by breadfruits, palm and ohia-apple trees. A grape lanai 
(veranda) hung with luscious purple fruit, and stately 
bamboos, dates and cocoanuts gave the premises a most 
charming tropical aspect. Barney first led the boys into 
a thatched cottage next to the entrance, where he re- 
moved the lamp black and brown stain from their heads 
and hands; then adorned them with the garlands and 
regalia, some of which had been supplied by Minelulu, 
and others by the ancient pagan in the cave. 

“Faith ! an’ ye look as foine and scrumptious as the. 
Duke of Connaught on the Queen’s birthday.” 

“And feel about as comfortable as the King of the 
Cannibal Islands, dressed in a coat of steel armor,” added 
Russell. “Rollo, this is the first time we have ever been 
introduced to a member of a Royal family. I’m com- 
pletely in a flutter.” 

“An’ sure, you ought to take a dose av Mrs. Winslow’s 
Soothing Syrup for that same,” suggested Barney. 

“What a goose!” whispered Rollo. “Yibu probably 
will see an ordinary Hawaiian woman, bare-foot, and 
dressed in a green and yellow Mother Hubbard, with 
perhaps a pet pig in her arms; also a half nude attend- 
ant, perfumed with onions and ancient cocoanut oil, to 
carry her spittoon and tobacco pipe.” 

The door to the chateau was of pine, the only one in 
the village, and rejoiced in both knob and lock. Being 
ushered in and left by Barney, they found themselves at 
once in what Russell was pleased to style “a scene of 
barbaric splendor.” 


234 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

Fine Niihau mats and beautifully decorated kapas, 
answering for carpets and tapestries, were there in the 
greatest profusion. The spacious house was separated 
into three large rooms by means of the hanging bead- 
work, known as Japanese curtains, composed in this 
case of white bamboo joints, mother of pearl beads and 
buttons, ivory and white bone ornaments, sea beans and 
polished sea shells of exquisite beauty. There were 
tables, mirrors, lockers and sideboards of richest carved 
mahogany and rosewood ; but they all gave evidence of 
antiquity, and of having once belonged to a prince’s 
yacht, or rear admiral’s flagship. 

“Oh, Rollo!” cried Russell, “what a delightful treas- 
ure house of wonders and antiquities this is ! Look at 
those spears, javelins and shark -tooth swords; this hel- 
met of wickerware and armor of sinnet network. Here 
are war clubs and magnificent polished koa calabashes, 
carved whale’s teeth, and an endless variety of Chinese, 
Japanese and East Indian curios and bric-a-brac. I tell 
you, Rollo, whoever collected these was a masterly anti- 
quarian, -and whoever executed the decorative and ar- 
tistic work was a genius. I’ve got a big bone to pick 
with you, though.” 

“And pray what’s that?” asked Rollo. 

“Two of them, in fact; these two jaw bones of a 
right whale; why, they are twenty feet long. If Jim 
Hicks had had that sized jaw you wouldn’t have got 
off so easy in your argument with him ! Oh ! Oh ! look 
overhead; a monster canoe suspended from the ridge 
pole, runs from end to end of the house, complete with 
outrigger and stained in striking bright colors. The 
name on the prow? Why, it’s 'Lady of the Lake'! I’ll 
wager the chap who built it was a Scotchman who — ” 

“Mr. Russell and Mr. Rollo, I bid you welcome to 
Paliuli,” said a lady’s melodious voice behind them. The 
boys turned suddenly and were for a few moments dumb 


235 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

with astonishment at the sudden apparition. The happy- 
faced maiden in the photograph found on the Fay Yan 
was before them ; but the picture was now set in a frame 
of golden splendor. It was undeniably Minelulu, but 
this time, arrayed in a royal mantle of amber and gold, 
of downy feathers, variegated with dashes' of crimson. 
On her head was a garland of white, crimson and saffron- 
tinted flowers, so woven that they resembled, at the 
first glance, a royal crown of gold, pearls and rubies. 
As she swept toward them, the trailing of the mantle, 
the easy carriage of her ' willowy figure, lent a queenly 
grace to the princess, which to our boys was for a mo- 
ment stunning. In her face could be seen the linea- 
ments of a refined and intelligent Scotchwoman, but her 
pearly white teeth, the dark, rich blood behind the clear 
skin and the cascade of raven tresses that fell behind her 
shoulders gave evidence that she was descended from a 
duskier royalty than that of James the Second. She no- 
ticed their embarrassment, and, taking each by the arm, 
began a promenade of the room, calling attention to the 
most striking objects. 

“Thank you for your kindly welcome,” returned 
Rollo. “The wonders and beauties of the Emerald Val- 
ley are most fascinating to us.” 

“Your highness has a marvelous collection of rare 
treasures,” added Russell. “We were quite dazed by 
them when you addressed us.” 

The princess, stopping short, uttered a silvery laugh 
and shook her finger mischievously at the boys, and her 
playful action put them immediately at ease. 

“Now, I just forbid your giving me any royal titles. I 
am just plain Minelulu, and that’s all; so poverty- 
stricken that I can only afford one name; most girls 
have two or three ; but it’s all I can do to take care of a 
single one respectably. Now, there^s the wicker helmet and 
the whale’s tooth that my great-great-grandfather wore, 


236 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

the renowned Kamehameha, the Napoleon of the Pacific. 
He was the famous first ruler of all the Islands, but I 
do not dare to assume even the shadow of his name, 
because royalty now in Hawaii is only a tradition, a 
bursted bubble, — a vanishing star. Then I might take 
the honored name of McGregor, my white great-grand- 
father, but if I do, the world will regard me as a Scotch- 
woman, for which legacy I have but little desire. So I 
am content with being simply Minelulu, a Hawaiian 
girl. As a Hawaiian I have an ambition to do great 
things for my people, and win love and respect in the 
arts of peace and civilization and philanthropy, just as 
did my ancestor win fame in deeds of war and in the 
unifying of savage tribes into one nation.” 

“And may God bless you in that,” exclaimed Rollo. 
“You have indeed a glorious work and opportunity be- 
fore you,” added Russell. “Do tell us about that beau- 
tiful and swan-like canoe. How in the world did it 
come here, so many miles away from the ocean?” 

“That,” said the princess, “my great-grandfather Mc- 
Gregor had carved from the biggest tree on the island, 
growing right here in Paliuli. So ponderous was it that 
he couldn’t gather together enough men to assist in 
lowering it down the palis to the sea coast. He intended 
to join Kamehameha’s great fleet of war canoes, the 
Pe-le-leu, when the King made his celebrated expedition 
to Maui and Oahu ; but the failure to launch this canoe 
prevented him from attaining the renown for warlike 
deeds enjoyed by John Young and Isaac Davis, the 
white men who assisted in the conquest. So the beau- 
tiful craft has been stored here ever since, and Mc- 
Gregor lived in obscurity in this valley. His name was 
never mentioned in history, but he was a favorite with 
the high chiefs who came to visit him. This is one of 
Kamehameha’s spears, so ponderous that few others 
could wield it. So great was Kamehameha’s strength 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 237 

and skill that he could catch these spears unharmed, 
while three warriors were hurling them at him, simul- 
taneously.” 

“And how did all these Oriental curios come to 
Paliuli?” asked Russell. 

“Well, McGregor was a lieutenant on the Duke of 
Lancaster’s yacht. That was wrecked here after a cruise 
in the Indian Ocean, and among the ports of China. 
The Duke abandoned his valuable collections and went 
home to England in a whaling vessel. McGregor re- 
covered them with Kanaka divers.” 

“And did this beautiful feather mantle belong to Lieut. 
McGregor ?” 

“Oh, no! That was a gift from Kamehameha to my 
great-grandmother, his daughter. It is not so valuable 
as the Royal Mantle now at Honolulu.. The cost in 
labor of catching the birds for that one amounted, by 
careful estimate to more than a million dollars, and the 
feathers took several generations of mountain bird 
catchers to accumulate. This is made up partly of the 
rare feathers of the mamo bird, but supplemented by 
plumage of the liwi Polena, dyed a golden color. But 
it is just as beautiful, and I am very proud of it. Let 
me take it off and show you how skillfully it is woven.” 

As she laid aside the sumptuous garment, there 
emerged a faultlessly attired lady, gowned in a rich dress 
of heavy lavender-tinted China silk, encircled by a 
Hawaiian belt, embroidered with tiny polished shells and 
mother of pearl beads. Around her neck and depend- 
ent from her throat was a necklace of real pearls of ex- 
quisite beauty. 

“That,” she said, pointing to it, “was also my great- 
grandmother’s ; a royal gift from her father. The wear- 
ing of it gives me both pain and pleasure, the form.er, 
because it was bartered for in China, in exchange for 
a schooner-load of sandalwood, whose gathering on the 


238 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

palis cost the unhappy feudal subjects of old-time chiefs 
many a month of hardship and suffering; pleasure, be- 
cause it represented in Hawaii the first dawn of love 
and respect for womankind. Before that they had been 
treated as slaves and inferiors by the men, their assumed 
lords and masters.” 

“That is all changed now, I suppose,” said Rollo, “and 
woman is the equal of man.” 

“Everywhere in Hawaii except Paliuli,” said the 
princess. ‘T would have invited my uncle Kalulu, the 
high chief, and his family, to meet you here today ; but, 
alas ! it is strictly forbidden for a woman to eat in the 
presence of men, according to the old-time taboo. She 
must partake of her meals in solitude, in a little hut 
by herself.” 

“We have been intensely interested,” said Russell, “in 
studying the old-time customs as they exist in the valley. 
There are other taboos, too, I suppose?” 

“Oh, yes, m.any of them. Some of them come period- 
ically ; others are arbitrarily proclaimed by Hiwa-hiwa 
and Kalulu, who alone have the power of life and death, 
and whose word is law.” 

“Then they have no code of laws, except obedience 
to the chief’s edict, I suppose ; not even unwritten laws ; 
and what are the penalties?” 

“Alas ! no ; and they are only ruled by fear of death, 
and the traditions of the gods. The chief does not 
punish openly, except by imposing sometimes a more 
grinding tax of pigs and sandalwood. But the horrible 
Mil, the high priest’s executioner, prowls around at 
night, and often clubs the unfortunate breaker of the 
taboo; his body is spirited away to the heiau, and he 
is reported to have fallen from a precipice, and his body 
is thus consecrated to the gods as a propitiation and a 
sacrifice to his impiety.” 

“And have you not the power with your royal pre- 


239 


A Tlirilling Tale of the Tropics 

rogatiye to assume the rule and do away with this ter- 
rible state of things?” 

“Perhaps so,” returned Minelulu. “I know I have 
the love of the majority of the tribe. But there are 
many whose insane fanaticism would tolerate no revo- 
lutions of the old traditions. They would girdle the fruit 
trees, burn all the houses, turn secret executioners them- 
selves, and, if resisted, they would break away the bar- 
riers of the lake and let a mountain freshet tear away 
all the gardens and kalo patches into the sea. I must 
be discreet, and bring about the change by love and 
example. Come here; I want to show you my kinder- 
garten;” and she led the way hastily to an adjoining 
thatched house, in which a score or more of young 
children were amusing themselves in innocent merri- 
ment. 

“See, I have just started this school. This is my as- 
sistant, Liliha, Bolabola’s sister. We teach these little 
cherubs to read and write and sing; the girls to sew, 
and weave their own hats ; the boys to carve toys and 
become handy with tools. You have no idea what pride 
and pleasure we take in their progress. They have not 
many clothes on the outside, but they have immortal 
souls and sweet, innocent spirits inside of them. We are 
teaching these x:hildren obedience to their parents, and 
cultivating in their young minds an ambition for self- 
improvement, and a yearning for things that are true, 
beautiful and good. Already the mothers and older sis- 
ters have caught the inspiration, and secretly petitioned 
me to admit them to our instructions. But I have to 
be very careful. The only white man admitted to Paliuli 
is Jim Hicks, and he has joined the most fanatical of 
the tribe in poisoning the minds of the people against 
the missionaries. When my uncle dies (he is becoming 
aged and feeble), then the people of Paliuli may look 
to me for leadership. I am young now, but I hope by 


240 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

that time to have overcome their worst prejudices. With 
the help of kind Providence, I will bar out things that 
are debasing from the valley; and, — just as it is a pest 
hole now for evil, I trust that God will help me to make 
it a shining light for things that are good.” 

“It is a grand and wholesome inspiration to listen to 
these noble words,” said Rollo. “Barney has told us a 
little about your zeal for the uplifting of your country- 
men. You know we found him on the Fay Yan, but 
he implored us to keep sacred what he revealed to us 
about yourself ; not to press him to divulge the incidents 
of your life, the occasion of your voyage to China, and 
adventures there.” 

“He did quite right,” said Minelulu. “I do not crave 
notoriety. If the painful circumstances of my visit to 
the Orient were made public now, it would embarrass 
me very much; in fact, endanger my life. Probably 
it would make my reputation a football, to be kicked 
around with impunity by the newspapers of the world. 
If I were not the scion of a Royal Family they would 
pay little attention to the incidents.” 

“We certainly respect your wishes, your high — , I 
mean Miss Minelulu,” said Russell, “and will banish 
all inquisitiveness.” 

“No, you will not,” said the princess, laughing; 
“you are going to know all ; that is, if you have the pa- 
tience to listen to it, and will still keep it sacred until 
the proper time. And here is the reason: I owe my 
life to Barney. He owes his life to you. You saved 
him from being blown up on the Fay Yan. From what 
he tells me of you and your uncle, I consider you our 
best friends, and worthy of every confidence. The time 
may come when by a full knowledge of the circumstances 
you can do him still more service.” 

“And we are both eager and anxious to do it,” ex- 
claimed Rollo, “for did he not save our lives on Mauna 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 241 


Kea? Had it not been for his bravery and presence of 
mind, we would have gone down with the rock slide, and 
fallen two hundred feet onto the sharp boulders.” 

“Why, he never told me of that,” returned the princess. 
“However, it is time for our luau. I am going to banish 
Barney after that, while we tell our yarns. It would 
embarrass him very much to listen to his own praises.” 

As she entered the main room of her house, Minelulu 
clapped her hands. Bolabola and Liliha entered, bearing 
sundry koa calabashes and wooden platters. The latter 
were garnished with ti-leaves, wild ginger and pala 
ferns, upon which lay a tempting variety of Hawaiian 
delicacies. The Marquesans were attired in simple 
white, with white aprons. The viands were placed on 
a generous Niihau mat, and the hostess seated her guests 
and herself around them in Turkish style. 

At that moment Barney entered and joined them. He 
was clad in a new broadcloth suit, fancy green vest and 
patent leather shoes. 

“I never knew before that you could make such a 
handsome gentleman out of an every-day Irishman,” 
whispered Russell to Rollo. 

“Misther Rollo,” said Barney, “the praste has just 
gone down on a trip forninst the village av Lau-pa-hoe- 
hoe. I towld him to hev the Chinee shoppy telephone 
to your uncle that ye were safe, enjoying yourselves in 
a royal chateau, an’ creatin’ a famine wid yer appe- 
tites.” 

“Ha !” exclaimed Russell, “he’ll be glad to hear from 
us ; but what about Mr. Ramsey ?” 

“That same message for the Parkman ranch.” 

“And you needn’t be afraid that he’ll divulge any- 
thing about Paliuli,” added the princess. “He’d sooner 
lose his head. Here, Mr. Rollo, is a Marquesan dish 
prepared by Bolabola; koku, a confection of breadfruit, 
cocoanut grated in its milk, and duck eggs. I hear you 


242 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

are becoming a Polynesian, and like fresh mullets and 
poi, Mr. Russell. These Hiwa-hiwa brought up recent- 
ly from Lau-pa-hoe-hoe.” 

“Yes,” said Rollo. “Before we leave for Panama, he 
will be a genuine Kanaka, addicted to raw fish with pep- 
pers and onions. I don’t think he will even balk at 
fresh squid and seaweed.” 

“But I draw the line at baked dog,” exclaimed Rus- 
sell. “Not even the sirens themselves could beguile and 
hypnotize me into sampling a Kanaka bow-wow.” 

“But you like roast sucking pig, do you not?” said 
the princess. “Try this meat, smoking hot, and just 
from the imu ; it was stuffed with plantains and salted 
peanuts. I believe Bolabola is the best Polynesian cook 
in the Pacific Islands.” 

“He certainly is,” answered Russell. “Nothing could 
be finer than the flavor of his unique stuffing, in this 
particular roast. I have become desperately fond of 
his roasted plantains and taro cakes. But what queer 
teeth these Polynesian pigs have! They are as sharp as 
sharks’ teeth.” 

Meanwhile the Marquesans had been employed in cool- 
ing the air by waving over the guests tall, red-plumed 
ka-hi-lis, that bore the appearance of feather dusters, five 
or eight feet in length, with short handles. 

“In olden times,” said Minelulu, “only the high chiefs 
were allowed to have kahili bearers, and they generally 
formed a part of the royal retinue.” 

The Marquesans passed around the several beverages, 
Kona coffee, chocolate, pineapple cider ; and then brought 
courses of chicken chop suey, bowls of rice, wild geese 
and ducks roasted on the spit. These were served with 
many delicious confections of Hawaiian fruits ; preserves 
of ohelos, marmalades of guavas, pohas (cape gooseber- 
ries), tangerines and mangoes, dainty cups of Japanese 
tea, sherbet of pineapples and limes, birds’ nests of arrowr 


243 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

root custard and guava jelly, sangaree of tamarinds 
and wild ginger root, winding up with a basket of new 
almonds, dates and raisins. 

“With the exception of the fish,” said Minelulu, “I 
think every item of this luau was produced in Paliuli. 
I know you will pardon us for offering so few exotics. 
Mr. Morrissey, would you teach my kindergarten boys 
to make sailor knots and braids, while your friends re- 
late to me your adventures among the lava flows on 
Mauna Loa?'' 


244 


Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 


CHAPTER XIX. 

Mlnelulu Tells Her Strange and Wonderful Story. — Her 
Dear, Good Missionary Friend, Mrs. Judson. — The Decoy Let- 
ter from Canton. — Alone in China. — A Message from Li Hung 
Chang. — A Blessed Retreat with the Missionaries. — Barney 
Recognizes her Feather Necklace. — The Man with a Slashed 
Ear Plays Eavesdropper on the Lovers. — Hurried into a 
Graveyard. — Drugged with Opium in a Sarcophagus. — She Rec- 
ognizes the Smuggler Fay Yan. — Barney Dives and Cuts her 
loose from the Gravestone. 

ND now, Miss Minelulu,’’ said Russell, 
as they seated themselves under the big 
war canoe, and were surrounded by the 
weapons of war and royal regalia of a 
hundred years before, “will you not tell 
us more about your ancestors, and the 
time when Hawaii was budding into importance as 
one of the world’s nations?” 

“Nothing would please me better,” returned the 
princess. “My great-great-grandfather, Ka-meha-meha 
I, was born November, 1736, at Kokoiki, in Kohala. We 
can almost see the locality of the village from yonder 
cliff. He was a high chief, and by his shrewdness and 
bravery became the most brilliant and progressive of all 
the kings of Hawaii. Ka-la-ni-o-puu, his uncle, then 
king of the whole Island, made an expedition against 
the King of the Island of Maui, and his famous legion 
of picked warriors, the Alapa, was almost annihilated 
in the terrible Battle of the Sand Hills. This took place 
on the plain, — then barren, — between East and West 
Maui, and now cultivated as Spreckel’s big sugar plan- 
tation. Young Kamehameha achieved fame for himself 
in this battle as a brave and skillful warrior. 

“That was in 1776, Two years later, in 1778, Capt. 



A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 245 

Cook discovered the Islands, and, anchoring in Ke-ala- 
ke-kua Bay, made friends with Kalaniopuu. The sight 
of those two ships, the Discovery and the Resolution, 
filled the natives with astonishment. They flocked from 
all parts of Hawaii to see the white gods, as they styled 
the newcomers. Couriers were dispatched to many of 
the villages, who told the people that their god Lono 
had returned in two canoes so big that on them grew 
tall trees (masts). (Lono was a deified prince, who two 
hundred years before had sailed away on an expedition 
to Tahiti.) These white men, they claimed, were deities, 
because they breathed fire and vapors from their mouths 
(tobacco smoke) ; ate the raw flesh of men (water- 
melons), and thrust their hands deep into holes in their 
sides (pockets), whence they brought from their stom- 
achs no end of spikes, knives, pieces of hoop iron, beads 
and other priceless treasures. Capt. Cook and his of- 
ficers were taken to the heiau (temple), where they were 
worshiped and feasted. Kalaniopuu threw over the 
shoulders of the great navigator his own feather mantle, 
and then presented his officers with six others. This one 
that I wear is one of those six, left behind during the 
fracas that followed later. The Englishmen did not ap- 
preciate the vast labor of their construction enough to 
carry them on board while they could. Hundreds of 
pigs and many canoe loads of breadfruit, yams, bananas 
and cocoanuts were presented to the new guests of the 
King, with lavish generosity; but so depraved and brut- 
ish were these representatives of Great Britain, that the 
greater the courtesy received, the worse they treated 
their hosts. Cook demolished the fence enclosing the 
temple for firewood, allowed his sailors to invade the 
sanctity of their families by abduction of their wives and 
sisters. In short, so shameless and brutal were their 
depredations that the friendship of the natives was nat- 
urally and gradually turned to hatred. The King and 


246 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

chiefs sought to allay the general indignation, but after 
several natives had been killed, Cook lost his life in a 
brawl with the Kanakas. Without the King’s knowl- 
edge a boat had been stolen and the nails drawn from it. 

“Although he had received in presents already a hun- 
dred times the boat’s value, the navigator went on shore 
with a squad of marines, and attempted to take Kalanio- 
puu prisoner, in order to hold him as hostage for the 
boat’s return. In the scrimmage Cook and four marines 
were slain. Cook’s body was carried up-country and the 
bones removed. In retaliation the British bombarded 
the village of Napoopoo and destroyed it, killing more 
than fifty innocent men, women and children. A part 
of Cook’s remains were recovered and buried with mili- 
tary honors in the bay. 

“My ancestor, Kamehameha, was the only one of the 
chiefs bold enough to trust himself on board the ships 
as they crtkised around the Islands. He was so im- 
pressed with the superiority and execution of the white 
man’s weapons that he determined to arm a part of his 
retainers with such firearms as he could secure, and 
then make himself master of the whole group of Islands. 
Following the navigator, in a few years, came a number 
of trading ships. Little by little, he accumulated can- 
non, muskets and powder. After Kalaniopuu’s death, he 
gradually conquered for himself the whole Island of 
Hawaii. Then in 1789 the ship Eleanor touched at 
Lahaina, and a boat with a sailor in it was stolen by 
the natives of Oloalu. The commander, Capt. Metcalf, 
anchored in front of the village, and invited the chiefs 
off to trade. Not suspecting his terrible treachery, or 
the retribution, the kindly natives flocked to his vessel 
with canoe loads of sweet potatoes, kalo, pigs and poul- 
try. Metcalf maneuvered them into a huddle on one 
side of his ship, then suddenly opened fire with his 
musketry and cannon. The ocean was strewn with the 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 247 

dead bodies of nearly a hundred men and innocent women 
and children. For this outrage the Hawaiians seized 
the schooner Fair American, commanded by Capt. Met- 
calf’s son, and captured two sailors, John Young and 
Isaac Davis. Kamehameha now became possessor of the 
little ship, its cannon and stock of firearms. He shrewd- 
ly gave Young and Davis lands and wives, and made 
them advisors in his cabinet and lieutenants in his little 
army. About that time my great-grandfather McGregor, 
a young man, in fact a mere boy, was marooned on 
Hawaii, and, being especially intelligent, Kamehameha 
gave him these lands around Paliuli and he married him 
to a daughter by one of his early wives. In those days 
the high chiefs, like the partiarchs of Israel, frequently 
had several wives. Later, when he became King of the 
whole group, Kaahu-ma-nu, his favorite and youngest 
wife, became the Queen, and after his death was ap- 
pointed the Regent. I know little about my grandmother 
or my parents, who both died young. But I remember 
well my great-grandfather McGregor. He lived to a 
very old age here, and in the valley adjoining, where 
you saw so many beautiful fruit trees of his planting. 
He was very fond of me, and taught me to speak and 
read English. For some reason he lived like a recluse, 
wrapped up in his books, never seeking the companion- 
ship of his own countrymen. Well, when I was old 
enough, I was sent to a Missionary School at Hilo. Dear 
old Mrs. Judson ! how carefully she trained all the girls 
in her charge ! She was just like a devoted mother to 
everv one, and yet she shared our joys and sorrows, 
and appreciated our human nature as would an elder 
sister. She seldom scolded or punished ; but when the 
girls were naughty, she cried over us, and then her 
grief nearlv broke our hearts. She so trained us to 
admire all things true, good and beautiful, that from her 
inspiration comes my greatest ambition, namely, to live 


248 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

such a life of usefulness to my countrymen as I know 
she would approve.’^ 

“Did not your grandfather plant and cultivate some 
other than fruit trees ?” asked Rollo, hesitatingly ; “some 
sandals, for instance/’ 

Minelulu started and answered quickly, with a sharp 
glance at both the boys : “If he did, I do not know where 
they are. I was taught never to mention my ancestry 
or refer to Paliuli. At school I was supposed to be the 
child of a runaway sailor. My grandfather explained it 
to me in this way: That there were old chiefs living 
who, if my existence as a princess were known, would 
try to prove that Kamehameha discredited my great- 
grandmother, because McGregor failed to join him in 
his conquests. On the other hand, he had papers from 
John Young and Isaac Davis, his friends, which would 
prove that I was an heir to the throne. 

“ ‘Some day,’ he would say, ‘when your detractors 
have disappeared and the descendants of Kamehameha 
pass away, as I know they must, without leaving heirs, 
— then with these papers you will be proven to be the 
nearest heir, and will be proclaimed Queen.’ ” 

“And did Kamehameha put the cannon and schooner 
Fair American into use against his enemies at once?” 
asked Russell. 

“Yes; but he proceeded very cautiously. After weed- 
ing out the hostile chiefs of Hawaii, he divided the lands 
among those who were loyal to him, and proceeded to 
construct the famous fleet of war canoes known as the 
Peleleu, of which the beautiful craft over our heads was 
to be the flagship. The chief Kaiana, who had been to 
China on a trading vessel, brought back a number of 
muskets with ammunition, and joined forces with Ka- 
mehameha. Then the King of Maui made an expedition 
against him, and a terrible sea battle was fought off 
Wai-ma-nu (Valley of Songsters), You can imagine 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 249 

the result. Young and Davis were there, with the Fair 
American and a big double war canoe, on which they 
placed the extra cannon. 

“Kahekili's fleet returned shattered to Maui. Soon 
after Kamehameha invaded Maui with the Peleleu, the 
squadron of war canoes. The two armies now fought 
the most terrible battle known in the annals of the Pacific 
Ocean. The scene of the conflict was in the populous 
and rich valleys of East Maui. The worsted Mauians 
fled up the great Valley of lao and made a rally among 
the clouds, on a high sugar-loaf peak. The Hawaiians con- 
cealed themselves in the jungle, and when the Mauians 
came down for food, ambuscaded and almost annihilated 
them.” 

“What was that battle called?” asked Russell. 

*^Pant-zvai, or the damming of the waters. So named 
from the choking of the river of Wailuku by the dead 
bodies. Four distinct conflicts took place and the four 
valleys are now named after the battles. Waikapu, the 
blast of the conch-shell; Wailuku, waters of slaughter; 
Waiehu, river of blood; Waihee, valley of retreat.” 

“Did that give the conqueror full possession of the 
group?” asked Rollo. 

“No; the Peleleu then sailed for Honolulu, and the 
final struggle took place in Nunanu Valley, back of 
Honolulu. Here Kamehameha’s cannon and muskets 
played a most important part. The Oahuans were forced 
up to the Pali, then surrounded and hurled down the 
precipices a thousand feet to the rocks below. So sud- 
den and terrific and spectacular was this defeat that the 
other tribes and islands at once submitted to the con- 
queror. Like Napoleon, he was terrible in war and in- 
defatigable in peace. From that moment Hawaii, 
though its cornerstone was laid in blood, took its place 
in the family of nations, and by rapid bounds has be- 
come one of the busiest and richest commercial and in- 


250 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

dustrial centers of the Pacific. When the missionaries 
came in 1820, they found, on the one hand, busy marts 
of trade at Lahaina and Honolulu, trading vessels and 
whaleships from all parts of the world; on the other 
hand, the Hawaiians, without teachers, without a God, 
were plunging themselves into a chaos of sensual de- 
bauchery and free love, dying by tens of thousands from 
inebriation, and from diseases and vices introduced from 
foreign lands.” 

‘“Yes,” exclaimed Rollo, ‘‘that’s the ideal state Jim 
Hicks says existed before the missionaries ruined the 
country” 

“I will give you a little peep behind the curtains into 
that beautiful paradoxical cesspool existing just before 
the advent of Christianity,” continued the princess. 
“Shortly after Liholiho (Kamehameha II) had ascend- 
ed the throne, a festival was held in Honolulu to cele- 
brate the anniversary. His favorite queen, Kamamalu, 
was borne in the procession seated in a whaleboat, carried 
by seventy men, some in scanty attire, others in helmets 
and feather cloaks. The young King himself and his 
suite, almost or quite nude, were so intoxicated that they 
were blind to all decency. The young King rode bare- 
back on a horse through and around the village, followed 
by an escort of sixty men, running at full speed, clad 
only in malos, and yelling like an insane rabble. 

“The queen dowager wore seventy-two yards of yel- 
low and crimson Kerseymere as a pau or mantle. She 
attired herself in this by stretching it flat upon the sand, 
then rolled herself over and over on it until its numer- 
ous coils under her arms made them stand out horizon- 
tally. When the queen mother was taken ill, ten men 
were seized by the Mu for execution at Waikiki, but as 
she 'quickly recovered, only two were sacrificed to the 
gods as an expression of gratitude.” 


251 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

“Did Kamehameha embrace Christianity?” asked 
Russell. 

“No; he died a pagan in 1819, one year before the mis- 
sionaries arrived (1820). He endeavored to inform him- 
self as to the principles of Christianity, but, strange to 
say, not one person in his kingdom, white or brown, 
could tell him of the true God, or explain to him the 
gospel of Christ, or the plan of salvation. 

“Now,” continued the princess, “I will tell you more 
of my own story. After I had completed my course- 
in the girls’ school, I went to Honolulu, intending to 
fit myself, either there or in California, as a teacher. 
But one day I received a letter from Canton, China, 
written by a person who assumed to be a relative of my 
great-grandfather. He signed himself Bruce McGregor, 
and stated that he was a second cousin to myself, and 
had married the daughter of a Mandarin ; that this con- 
nection gave him such a high prestige that he enjoyed a 
lucrative government office as collector of a port, under 
the great premier Li Hung Chang. He had heard of 
me through a sea captain who was a close friend of my 
great-grandfather McGregor, and was anxious to have 
me come to China, where I not only could complete my 
studies in a university conducted by missionaries near 
Canton, but he could, as soon as I desired, have me 
appointed to a high-salaried position in the Mandarin’s 
court as governess. 

“He told me to call on a certain Chinese merchant in 
Honolulu, named Ah Fong Lo, who would advance me 
passage money and draw on him. This offer so pleased 
me that I foolishly did not consult my missionary friends. 
They could have confirmed or disproved what the letter 
claimed in a few days, by a cablegram to the American 
Consul at Canton. I only asked advice from a govern- 
ment official who had been very intimate with King 


252 Adventures of Hollo in Hawaii 

Kalakaua. He at once told me I was most fortunate in 
having such an offer. 

“ ‘There is a tide in the affairs of men which, taken 
at its flood, leads on to fortune and fame. You might 
wait here,’ he said, ‘a hundred years before another so 
flattering a proposition would come to you unsolicited. 
Let us go and see Ah Fong Lo.’ 

“So before I had time to weigh the dangers of the 
expedition, I made my decision. Ah Fong Lo could give 
me very little information, but he was quite willing to 
cash a draft on my second cousin and buy my ticket. To 
make a long story short, I landed from the Chinese 
packet in Canton a few weeks later, with only a few 
yen in my purse, and to my dismay and astonishment, 
found that no such person as my assumed cousin lived 
in Canton. 

“I went at once to the American missionaries, and 
found them friends indeed in my hour of need. The 
United States Consul was visited and made inquiries 
at Pekin. After long weeks of delay word came from 
Premier Li that B. McGregor of Shanghai had been 
sent on a surveying expedition in connection with a new 
military road and fort in Tartary, and would not return 
for six months or a year. I would have started back at 
once to Honolulu, but for my pride and the lack of 
money. That was the last I ever heard of that spurious 
second cousin. You Can see that it was all a cunninsr 
plot on the part of secret and unscrupulous enemies to 
get me away from Hawaii and lost among the millions 
in China. The dear, good missionaries offered me an 
asylum in their school, with a chance both to study and 
teach, which I accepted. I wrote to Ah Fong Lo, to a 
wealthy relative in Honolulu, and to King Kalakaua’s 
friend, but only heard from the latter. He sent me a 
trifling sum of money, and advised me to remain in 
Canton until politics in Hawaii were a little more set- 


253 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

tied. It was at the time that Queen Liliuokalani was 
preparing to promulgate a new constitution, and there 
was a bloody revolution brewing, he said. That I, as 
a ro}'alist chiefess, was most fortunate to be so many 
thousand miles away from the seat of trouble. Then 
a few months later he wrote me another letter. Here 
it is in my scrap book. Read it and see how cunning 
he was in his malice, and what a silly girl I was to 
swallow his cock and bull stories: 

“ %Iiss Minelulu : — 

T beg to inform your highness that the revolution 
I prophesied has taken place, and Hawaii is in a state of 
anarchy and seething chaos. The Annexation party rose, 
and by force hurled the Queen from her throne. They 
have tried to sneak the whole nation into the clutches 
of Uncle Sam. If they are successful in this, the 
Kanakas will be persecuted and exterminated for the 
possession of their lands, just as were the North Amer- 
ican Indians, and the Maoris of New Zealand. But we 
understand that as soon as the newly elected president 
of the United States, Grover Cleveland, is inaugurated, 
he will at once send a squadron of battleships, and after 
restoring the Queen's throne to her, hang all the rebels. 
The Royalists are so excited over these prospects that 
they are plotting to assassinate all claimants to the throne 
but the Queen and the Princess K., the heir apparent. 
The Queen herself has been imprisoned by the rebels. 
Until all these dangers pass away, your life is in jeopardy 
the instant you set foot on Hawaiian soil. At present 
there is a forced calm, compelled by regiments of United 
States marines and foreign warships, but the smolder- 
ing volcano is sure to break out sooner or later, and fill 
the land with bloodshed and violence. I will keep you 
posted from time to time. Your sincere friend, 

‘Fred Hutchinson.* 


254 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

“I saw at once there were exaggerations in this letter; 
but I reasoned that where there was so much smoke 
there must be some fire. So I stayed on and on for 
years. My work as instructor became more and more 
a pleasure to me. There was a splendid college library, 
from which I could draw books and read, and was happy 
in the consciousness that I was improving myself daily, 
as well as the Chinese girls and boys placed under my 
tuition. 

“But I longed for the beautiful valleys and palis of 
Hawaii, the grand old peaks of Mauna Kea and Halea- 
kala. I dreamed constantly of diving into coral gardens, 
sporting among the breakers on my surf board, and rang- 
ing the fairyland of jungle, peak and forest on my agile 
pony, in search of new wonders. 

“One day I was strolling along the wharves with my 
little Chinese schoolboys, as I often did to instruct them 
in the commerce and industry of the great seaport, call- 
ing their attention to the wonderful variety of merchan- 
dise brought and carried away by the junks and sam- 
pans, loaded on the big and little ships of all the world’s 
nations. A young sailor passed me, eyeing very atten- 
tively, not my face, but the necklace of golden mamo 
feathers and polished shells I wore around my throat. 1 
thought I heard him utter the magic word 'aloha' and 
without a second thought I returned the salutation 
'aloha oe! Instantly he was back at my side jabbering, 
not pigeon English, but the most perfect Hawaiian. Yon 
can imagine my joy at meeting, after years of exile, one 
who could speak my mother tongue so well. He told 
me that he recognized in the feathers of the mamo bird 
(found only in Hawaii) that I might be a Kanaka; that 
he had lived many years on the Islands, and was very 
familiar with these valleys of Hilo-paliku ; that he came 
as a supercargo from Honolulu, and had just engaged - 


A Thrilling* Tale of the Tropics 255 

in the same capacity with a friend of his, Captain Jar- 
dine of the Chinese clipper Fay Yan, plying between 
Canton and ’Frisco in the rice trade. 

“On my part, I explained that I was brought up and 
educated in Hawaii, and was now an instructor in the 
American School in Canton. I did not tell him of my 
birth and ancestry until later, when we had become well 
acquainted. As he seemed familiar with the political 
situation at Honolulu, I was eager to learn all the news, 
and begged him to call on me at the college. Suddenly 
he touched my arm, and with a quick jerk of his thumb 
pointed to a couple of sailors, both seemingly maudlin 
drunk, and swearing at each other in French. They 
were seated on a pile of tea boxes. As Barney and I 
moved away, he whispered to me : T’ve seen that parley- 
vous with a split ear in Honolulu, and I believe he under- 
stands Kanaka, too.’ I turned to look at him, and saw 
that one of the tars had the scar of a sabre cut on one 
cheek; his right ear had also been slashed, and his hair 
was of a fiery red hue. Now, tell me, Rollo, why do you 
exchange sudden glances with your friend?” 

“Why, that’s the very chap we saw with Jim Hicks 
in the distillers’ cave!” exclaimed Russell. 

Rollo now related briefly the adventure in the cave 
on the pali at Waihalulu with the moonshiners. The 
princess was visibly agitated. 

“I wonder if that fiend is going to dog my footsteps for 
all time! But you say Barney heard him; well, he’s 
just smart enough to circumvent that French sot. I 
never knew anyone to get ahead of our Irishman yet. 
Now, to resume, Barney suggested that I should meet 
him in a beautiful garden near the river the next after- 
noon. There was a Chinese temple in it, and a tea 
house adjoining, where we could talk without molesta- 
tion. There I found him the next day, and two or three 
happy hours sped away, while I listened to the latest 


256 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

news from my native land. To my astonishment, I 
learned that there had been the greatest peace and pros- 
perity under the republic, instead of the riot and anarchy 
described by Mr. Hutchinson. Barney also told me 
that the old Royalists, who had been so bitter against the 
new government, had either died or, accepting the in- 
evitable, had taken the oath of allegiance and were en- 
joying the general good times. No sooner had I heard 
this than I was seized with an irresistible impulse to re- 
turn to my beloved native land. The memory of the 
waterfalls, the rainbows and the trilling bird songs of 
Paliuli flooded my soul with an intense longing to re- 
join my relatives, and once more breathe these soft, 
sweet airs of Hilo. The mythical Bruce McGregor had 
never turned up; I had learned the Cantonese dialect, 
and become so familiar with the customs and peculiar- 
ities of the Chinese, that my services as an instructor 
would be in demand; for Barney told me there were 
nearly forty thousand Chinese — old and young — now in 
Hawaii. 

“ T can secure a passage for you to Honolulu,’ said 
Barney. ‘Capt. Jardine will touch there on his way to 
’Frisco.’ 

‘Ask Capt. Jardine if he will not call on me,’ I said 
‘Now let us have one more pot of tea and some rice 
cakes; then I must start for the Mission. It is grow- 
ing dark. Hark! what’s that rustling behind the bam- 
boo jealousies? Someone is eavesdropping. Lucky we 
talked in Kanaka.’ 

“Barney slid back the paper partition and leaped out. 
I heard a violent scuffle and some French imprecations. 
Then Barney reappeared. 

“ ‘It was a Chinaman,’ he said. ‘I grabbed his pig- 
tnil, and he left it behind him and vanished around the 
Joss Houses.’ 

“ ‘What do you suppose he wanted with us ?’ I asked, 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 257 

“Barney whispered, ‘His right ear was split!’ 

^ “The next evening Captain Jardine called at the Mis- 
sion to see me. He was an Englishman, quite well ac- 
quainted in Honolulu, and knew many ol my friends 
in the Islands. I liked him. He was so kind and gen- 
tlemanly ; but there was a mysterious restlessness in his 
eyes I could not fathom. They were always glancing 
out of the window, down the street, among the bamboos, 
or into every nook and corner, as if on the watch for 
some lurking danger. 

“Now that $160,000 worth of contraband opium has 
turned up in his ship’s keel, we need no longer wonder 
at this peculiarity.’’ 

“And were not the missionaries opposed to your re- 
turn?” asked Rollo. 

“To my surprise, they were quite willing. ‘Dear 
daughter,’ said the patriarch, Mr. Coan, ‘this may be the 
will of God. Only yesterday I received a letter from 
the Board of Instruction at Honolulu, asking if we could 
spare them any teachers for their Chinese schools. I 
look for glorious things from this little Hawaii, because 
there their education is untrammeled by these prejudices 
against • foreigners which militate against enlightenment 
in China, or the dislike of Mongolians which prevails 
among the working class in the United States. Before 
very long, Hawaii, I prophesy, will supply many great 
educators to sow both the gospel and enlightenment in 
China. When you arrive in Honolulu, go and tell my 
dear friend Bishop that the morning light is breaking in 
China. I can now see the beautiful feet of him who 
cometh over the mountain tops, bringing a glorious sal- 
vation to this benighted people. Soon the love of God 
will enter their souls; the love for one another is even 
now springing up from the seeds of the Gospel. The 
fields are white for the harvest.’ 

“So everything was arranged and I packed my be- 


258 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


longings and sent them on board of Capt. Jardine’s ship. 
The day before she sailed I bade my little Chinese pupils 
and dear missionary friends a tearful goodbye. Then 
Mr. Coan accompanied me as far as the boat landing. 
Here I engaged the first sampan that presented itself to 
row me to the Fay Yan, which lay in the stream below. 
It was a beautiful evening and I was enjoying the busy 
scene around me; junks, tugs and Chinese barges, with 
thousands of boats covered by bamboo roofs, tenanted 
by the celestials who could not afford to live on the 
land. 

“Suddenly I was startled by noticing that the owner 
of the sampan, in adjusting his bamboo splint hat, un- 
covered his right ear. It was slashed! My heart sank 
within me, for I surmised at once that this boatman 
was no other than that desperate Frenchman, disguised 
as a Mongolian. My suspicion was soon verified; for 
when the sampan had left the city it was suddenly 
swerved to the bank, near which was a lonely graveyard 
and temple. The boatmen said they were hungry, and 
must have a cup of arrack, and bowl of rice, at an 
adjacent chop suey house. In vain I protested, and was 
about to scream for assistance, when, like a flash, a thick 
woolen blanket was thrown over my head, my feet bound 
with a lanyard, and despite my struggles I was carried 
helpless on shore. When I was allowed to open my eyes, 
I found myself in a large tomb of solid masonry, sur- 
rounded by three men, two of whom were white ruf- 
fians. The third boatman, I could now see by the light 
of the candle he held, had a sabre-cut scar on his left 
cheek. All three were conversing in low tones in French, 
which I could not understand. 

“Presently one of them untied my hands and placed 
in them a piece of parchment upon which was engrossed 
an affidavit in English. It was already signed by wit- 


259 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

nesses and bore the attest and coat of arms of the British 
Consul at Shanghai. 

“ ‘Mademoiselle will sign ze papier, tres mt. Ve air 
in von hurry to sail vid her to Macao, on some business 
pressing. Sign also zis note to ze Capitain Jardine.’ At 
the same time he handed me a pen, and, cocking a re- 
volver, held it to my head and said ; ‘You vill not hesi- 
tate to do justice to ze little Prince George, and save 
your own life.’ 

“ ‘I sign nothing without reading it !’ I exclaimed. 

‘Ver’ well, read, but ze mattair grow worse each 
minute of de-lay. Ve must not miss ze steamer to 
Macao.’ 

“I read it rapidly, and at once the diabolical plot 
flashed clearly into plain significance. The affidavit was 
to the effect that I was not the great-granddaughter of 
McGregor, nor a descendant of Kamehameha; that my 
father was a runaway sailor, living at Laupahoehoe, and 
my mother a woman of common rank in that village ; that 
I was adopted by McGregor when orphaned at seven 
years of age. I further resigned all my right and title 
in McGregor’s lands given him by Kamehameha, in favor 
of Prince George Umi, who was a direct and lineal de- 
scendant of McGregor by Kamehameha’s daughter. The 
note for me to copy was to Capt. Jardine, telling him 
that I had changed my mind and would stay in Canton 
for the present; he would kindly deliver my luggage to 
the bearer. 

“Never in my life was I so cool or my mind so clear 
as at that moment. I remembered seeing in a Hong 
Kong paper a week before that the British Consul at 
Shanghai was dead. The plotters had selected him, be- 
cause fie could never deny his forged signature on the 
parchment. I then glanced at Bazan, — ^he of the slashed 
ear. He had detached a heavy gravestone and was tying 
it in a sling. He said in English to his accomplices: 


260 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

‘She vill not sign. I vill here vait and take ze lettair to 
Jardine. You do not know his ship. I do.’ 

“Then I made up my mind that the gravestone was 
to sink my body in the deep bay off Whampoa ; sign or 
no sign, — that zvas my destination. They would not risk 
putting me to death on land. My only salvation was 
to gain time until I could invent some maneuver or some 
counterplot to circumvent them. 

“ T do not understand this. I will not sign until bye 
and bye, when I have read it over and understand it bet- 
ter. I do not refuse.’ 

“In vain did the ruffian flourish his revolver and click 
its trigger at my head. I continued reading and repeat- 
ing, ‘Bye and bye; I do not refuse. Bye and bye I will 
understand.’ 

“Suddenly my hands were tied again and the blanket 
thrown over my head ; then I smelled opium, a lighted 
pipe full of which was thrust under my nose. I held 
my breath until I was faint, determined not to be drugged. 
When they removed the blanket I feigned deep sleep. 
Then, as if to make sure that I was not shamming, they . 
tore down a coffin, emptied from it the bones and moul- 
dering remains, and placed me in it with a burning pipe 
of the drug, — then clapped on the cover. A friendly 
gleam of the candle showed me a hole in the wood, and 
to this I applied my mouth and softly sucked in the life- 
giving air. 

“ A Whampoa ! Vit !’ suddenly exclaimed the leader, 
and I was bundled out of the sarcophagus and carried to 
the river bank. Instead of the sampan they now entered 
a barge which had four rowers. 

“We were approaching the fleet of merchant vessels 
anchored in the stream. I looked at the forest of masts, 
and searched in nervous haste for the one whose flag 
flying at the mizzentop would indicate that she was to 
sail the next day. There it was ! the yellow emblem of 


261 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

China. She was not far away, and we might pass within 
hailing distance. Oh, heavens ! this was my last chance 
for life! If I only had strength enough left to throw 
my voice across the waters to Barney’s ear. I had faith 
that his cunning and ability would save me. He had 
related to me a number of his adventures, which re- 
quired the shrewdest judgment and promptest action. I 
could see a lantern hanging to a swinging boom. It 
flashed just once on the outer taffrail, and I read the 
words Fay Yan. Then I struggled to a sitting posture 
and shouted: 'Fay Yan! ahoy! Barney Morrissey!’ In- 
stantly I heard his voice : ‘Boat ahoy ! what’s wanted ?’ 
and I shouted again : ‘O Minelulu no wau ! e wiki mai ! 
e kokua paipai, o make ino wau e ka Farani Diabolo (I 
am Minelulu! haste to my rescue. Delay not, for I go 
to my death at the hand of the fiendish Frenchman).’ I 
could say no more, for the ruffians, leaping over the row- 
ers, forced me down with a pistol at my head and their 
hands on my throat. 

“But I had said enough. I heard hasty orders, — the 
rattle of oars, — and the creak of blocks and davits, — 
then the splash of a boat. The two Frenchmen seized 
extra oars, and with terrible oaths and imprecations 
urged forward the Chinese rowers. In the twilight I saw 
that one of our pursuers was Capt. Jardine, and that he 
had a rifle by his side, as well as an oar in his hand. The 
boats were very evenly matched ; it would be a long 
chase unless something happened in their favor. The 
fleet of ships at anchor were soon cleared and we were 
on the bay ; it was rapidly growing dark. Suddenly a 
rifle shot rang out clearly through the startled air, and 
one of the ruffians dropped in the bottom of the boat. 
The other ceased rowing and began to fasten the grave- 
stone to my feet. I gave myself up for lost, for the fiend 
evidently had determined to conceal all evidence of his 
crime by sending me to the bottom among the coral 


262 Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 

grcves. He seized me in his arms and forced me over 
the gunwale. I glanced upward and saw the outline of 
Jardine’s boat prow and the Irishman just about to leap 
into the barge. 

“ ‘Barney,’ I screamed, ‘e luu ! Oki ke kaula me ka 
pahi! (Dive and cut the thongs with your knife!).’ 

“The fiend raised his pistol and fired at him. I drew 
a long breath, then felt a wave close above me. I gave 
up all for lost; but at that instant something heavy shot 
down past me; my feet were grasped. I was sinking 
rapidly. But now, — oh! joy! — my ankles were released, 
and a cold something was sawing between my hands. 
Thank God ! — they, too, were free, and I struck out with 
them for the surface. They say you cannot drown a 
Polynesian. I was not an exception to the rule. With 
my limbs untrammeled, I feel almost as much at home 
in the water as on the land. 

“We both emerged and grasped an empty keg thrown 
over for our support. In a few minutes Jardine’s boat 
returned. He had fired a second shot and believed he 
had killed or mortally wounded the other Frenchman. 
Then the barge vanished in the black night.” 

“Noble Barney!” cried Rollo. “All the world loves 
a hero!” added Russell, with enthusiasm. 

“Do you wonder, then,” said Minelulu, “that I have a 
regard for that young man? Not a passion, nor a passing 
romantic attachment ; but a deep gratitude, a respect and 
admiration which is as far above an ordinary woman’s 
aflfection as the ocean is more profound than yon little 
lake under the waterfalls. I ask for no greater happi- 
ness than to be able to throw into his life sunshine and 
joy and comfort. He has not asked me to marry him. 
That matters not; we are like brother and sister, and if 
in God’s providence he should love another better than 
myself, I would still be to him a devoted sister. 

“The next morning when I awoke, the Fay Yan was 


263 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

plowing her way through the billows of the China Sea. 
Capt. Jardine did not care to encounter the long delays 
of Chinese justice; the two main offenders had been pun- 
ished, and that satisfied him. I was glad enough to 
escape them, without going back to encounter any more 
of the horrid men, or revisit the scene of my painful 
experiences. Of the mutiny and the wreck Barney has 
told you the story. Who are the real plotters against my 
life may always remain a mystery. I am sure the dear 
little boy. Prince George, knows nothing of the con- 
spiracy. I met him in Hilo, and he was as affectionate 
toward me as to an own mother. The conspiracy, no 
doubt, is to get possession of my estate. It is not worth 
much, unless, as has been hinted to me, there are some 
sandalwoods left among* the ravines.” 

“How did it happen that you did not accompany Capt. 
Jardine in his flight from the Fay Yan?” asked Rollo. 

“I had nursed one of the Chinese seamen through a 
severe and dangerous sickness on the way from Canton. 
They made me prisoner, and would have killed me, I 
believe, but for the gratitude they entertained for what 
I had done for their companion. They landed at Kahoo- 
lawe and concealed the opium in a cave under a high 
precipice. I managed to escape with a fisherman who 
came from Lahaina to catch turtles. He brought me in 
his canoe to Waimanu, where I found Hiwa-hiwa. It 
did not take him very long to reach Kahoolawe, dis- 
cover the opium and convey it secretly to the Tombs 
of the Kings on Mauna Loa. Capt. Jardine helped to 
save my life, and I was determined to save his property 
for him. Hiwa-hiwa expected Jardine would reward 
him. He did not intend to dispose of the treasure. I 
accompanied the priest to the Tombs, and when the vol- 
cano river approached, came back to send him an assist- 
ant from Paliuli.” 


2G4 - 


Adventures of Roilo in Hawaii 


CHAPTER XX. 

The Conspiracy to Rob the Princess of her Sandalwood.— 
The Boys Unite with Barney in a Counterplot. — Tangled in 
the Impenetrable Tropical Jungle. — A Fortune in the Legacy 
of Sandalwood. — An Old-Time Fortress of the Savages. — The 
Poacher Sees the Ghosts of Famous Warriors Emerge from 
the Sandals as he Cuts. — Bazan is Promised a 200-Foot Leap 
over the Waterfall. — Around the Campfire they Tell “How it 
all Happened.” 

HAT night Rollo and Russell and Bar- 
ney resumed their disguises. The Irish- 
man was the more anxious to do this, 
as Hiwa-hiwa had told him of an ex- 
pected visit from Jim Hicks. About 
two o’clock in the morning, Barney 
awoke his companions. ‘‘Thim swate angels are 
here, Bazan and Hicks, Come quick with me, and we’ll 
be afther finding out their errand. It’s some worruk of 
the divil. I’ll bet a twinty-pound cocoanut.” 

In a minute ^the boys were following the Irishman, 
who led stealthily to a solitary hut near where they en- 
tered the valley. They peered through one corner where 
the thatch had been eaten away by stray goats. The 
two moonshiners were discussing a canteen of ti-root 
rum, with poi and yams and crimson crayfish. 

^‘Meester Hicks,” protested Bazan, “by the holy virgin 
I has nothing to do with ze outrage.” 

“Well, it looks mighty fishy. If it had been the 
sheriff’s posse or any dod-rotted yellow skins, they’d 
have konobled every chip of the sandalwood. There 
wasn’t a cussed soul on earth but you that knew of that 
cachey. Now write your name on this piece of paper, 
so’s I will know how to spell it.” 



A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 265 

“Here it ees, Monsieur Hicks. Parbleu ! what zat you 
make comparashon with in your hand?” 

“You get off easy this time, old frog-eater; here’s a 
paper I found pinned to the sandalwood logs: 

“ ‘Ka uhane no au o Keawe-nui mai loko mai o ka 
wahie ala. Nau keia poho. Mai kuai aku oe i keia oko- 
lehao ino i ka lahui Hawaii, o make ino auanei oe e na 
hekili o ke Akua.” (“I am the spirit of the mighty King 
Keawe, dwelling in this sandalwood, and the author of 
this ruin. Sell not your accursed rum to the Children 
of Hawaii, lest you perish by the thunderbolts of God.”) 

“Ah ! Diable ! Eef all ze ghosts of renown come out 
of ze trees in sandalwood vallee, ve air in von perdica- 
ment tereeble. Many hundred spireets vil combat two 
men.” 

“One man, you mean. There’s no need of two trying 
the experiment. You are going in tomorrow evening, 
do you hear? And if the old heathen devils don’t throw 
over the pali, as they did our demnition jugs and worm, 
I’ll help you to finish up the job.” 

“Russell,” whispered Rollo, “who do you suppose left 
that note in the Waihalulu moonshiners’ cave?” 

“There’s only one chap smart enough to think of the 
shrewd little trick,” returned Russell ; “and he’s an Irish- 
man. These two old rascals evidently have a wholesome 
dread of the wraiths of the old warriors lurking in the 
sandals.” 

“If everything comes out right, Hiwa-hiwa will help 
us in the job,” continued Hicks. “He’s the only one 
who knows of the orchard besides ourselves. The hoo- 
doos of their ghosts is the only thing that’s kept him 
from waltzing off with every mother’s brat of them 
long ago. Whatever became of the girl, — old Mc- 
Gregor’s heir? The last I heard she had joined those 


266 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


dod-rotted missionaries in China. These sandals belong 
to the old Scotchman’s estate.” 

“Parbleu! she nevaire trouble us. She joined, not ze 
missionaries, but ze angels. She is tres mort. With my 
own eyes I observe them carry her on ze boat to ze burial 
place.” 

“On a boat ? Likely story ! Do they inter their dead 
in the coral groves under the China Sea?” 

“Diable! No! Mais, it sufhceth she is dead! We may 
sleep now, for the morrow is full of hard work among 
ze sandals and palis.” 

“And tke phantom demons of old Hawaii coming back 
from over the Styx,” added Hicks, with a sardonic grin. 

“Barney,” said Rollo, as they returned, “do you know 
where this wonderful garden of golden wood is located ?” 

“An’ sure I do. Bedad, an’ it’s a cowld day whin 
Barney Morrissey is put to his thrumps. But thim two 
thievin’ renegades are agin one Irishman.” 

“And add two Yankees to the Irishman,” put in Rus- 
sell. “There’s nothing reasonable we wouldn’t do for 
you and Minelulu.” 

“In that case we’ll be afther goin’ up this blissid 
minit.” Barney now left them a few minutes to com- 
municate with Bolabola. When he returned, he was pro- 
vided with a long, stout rope, and led the way to a cave 
in the canyon wall at the lower end of Paliuli. Here he 
lit a kukui nut candle, and began to dig with his sheath 
knife in the ashes of what had once been a fireplace. 
Very soon a lava slab was revealed, which he easily pried 
up and conducted the boys through a winding shaft, 
opening onto a ledge on the side of the cliff. On hands 
and knees, with Paliuli behind them shimmering in the 
moonlight, they stealthily made their way along this shelf, 
being prevented from standing upright by the overhang- 
ing cliff. Beneath the ledge was a sheer precipice of 
two hundred feet. They emerged at the top of the ridge 


HIWA-HTWA, THE PRIEIST, in his garden. The power of the chief was retained over his serfs, 
through the Kahu-nas, and the superstitions of the people. When a man became obnoxious to the chieftain, 
or his high priest, he was secretly made away with by the Mu, or royal executioner. 

















* 


HULA GTULS, who answer to the Naitch dancers of the Orient, are yet to be found. 
Some of their Meles (songs) and dances, are ve ry pretty and graceful — others of questionable 
morals. Their Entertainments were varied by the Bards, who chanted in unison Kanikaus or 
tragic tales. 



267 


Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

and for three hours toiled through a jungle matted with 
ie-ie vines, ferns and big-leaved tropical plants. Sunrise 
found them looking down into one of the ravines whence 
leaped the waterfalls of the Emerald Valley. 

"We never imagined,” said Rollo, "that such a wild 
jungle existed on the face of the globe. You can hardly 
squeeze between the saplings. I could put my ear to 
the leafmold most anywhere and hear streams of water 
tinkling somewhere below.” 

Is not this a rapturous landscape?” exclaimed Rus- 
sell. "The waterfalls, the little lake, the fairy-like Valley 
of Paliuli, the stern, majestic precipices, clad with laugh- 
ing vines and flowers ; it’s an earthly Paradise.” 

"Ah ! here are the sandalwood trees,” cried Rollo. 
"Look ! the ravine bottom below us is covered with a 
forest of them, planted in rows, and full grown, too !” 

"Now, we can make an estimate,” continued Russell. 
"There are thirty rows, and at least a hundred in each, 
or three thousand. The trunks of the trees are about 
twice the size of a large man, — say three hundred pounds, 
— and at 30c a pound in Shanghai, are worth ninety to 
one hundred dollars each. For the whole crop, — 'Great 
Pele and little fire imps! Rollo, — two hundred and fifty 
thousand dollars! I wonder if the old Scotchman ever 
dreamed of this great fortune which his industry would 
confer upon his posterity. And, look ! in every part of 
the ravine are young and half-grown trees. In ten or 
twenty years more there will be another harvest.” 

By means of Barney’s rope they lowered themselves 
over the precipice and landed in a grove of fruit trees, 
many of which were bearing. 

"Here’s another m.arvel,” exclaimed Russell. "The 
old Scotchman was evi lently an enthusiast in the matter 
of tropical luxuries, and collected them from every gar- 
den spot between Cancer and Capricorn. Here, Barney, 


268 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

you’ve been a globe trotter, — following the equator, — tell 
us what some of these job lots in monkey diet are.” 

“Thim little oranges no bigger’n your thumb are kum- 
quats from Cochin China.” 

‘‘And what’s this huge fruit, — big as a watermelon? 
And oh, my ! how good it tastes !” exclaimed Russell, 
slashing with his bowie knife into a ripe one, just with- 
in reach. 

“Thim is Duriens, from Borneo, and they taste good 
to all the young Orang-outangs from the Malay coun- 
try/’ 

'‘Thank you ; my ancestors come from just the opposite 
side of the world from Borneo. Now, Rollo, here’s a 
plum tree that’s been in bad company; married into the 
Catsup family. See, it’s raising a crop of tomatoes.” 

“That’s the Tomato Tree, from Jamaica,” said Barney. 
“Now here’s the Monkey Bread Tree, from Africa; the 
Gorillas make Sally Lun biskits from the big balls of 
fruit it raises. Here’s Sapotas and Sapodillas from the 
West Indies. That’s a Spanish lime tree from Canary 
Islands. The seeds inside of that lemon are better ’atein’ 
than peanuts.” 

“And what are those two rough fruits that look as if 
they had been run through a thrashing machine in their 
early days?” inquired Rollo. 

“I know,” cried Russell. '‘Sweet Sop and Sour Sop. 
I saw them in the Botanic Gardens at Honolulu. I 
know this one too, the Cashew Nut, from Ceylon. But 
they may have all the other fruits and welcome. I’ll 
take the Sweet and Sour Guavas that grow wild all over 
these mountains. I’d rather have them, than peaches and 
pears.” 

“Yes,” returned Rollo, “if you only had the capacity 
of an elephant. I’m sure you never woidd stop eating 
Guavas.” 

They now proceeded to explore the ravine. After 


269 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

ascending half a mile they found it suddenly terminated 
in a precipice several hundred feet high. At the base 
of this was a deep pool in which sported thousands of 
oopus and goldfish. From a cave beneath its surface 
welled up the spring of limpid water which supplied the 
silvery waterfall leaping below into Paliuli. 

“This explains the wonderful fertility of this soil,” 
said Rollo. “The stream bubbles out of the rock, and 
the valley is not subject to the usual freshets which wash 
away the decaying vegetation.” 

“Oh, Rollo!” cried Russell, “look at the caves. There 
are a dozen or more of them. Til just wager that this 
was one of the fortresses of the ancient Hawaiians, once 
as impregnable to their enemies as Gibraltar is now.” 

They climbed to several of the caverns and found in 
every one traces of former occupation. In the rock niches 
they discovered carved images of the gods, necklaces of 
sharks’ and dogs’ teeth, ivory-pointed spears, fish hooks 
made of human bones, ironwood mallets for pounding 
kapa, with many ornaments of mother of pearl and tor- 
toise shell. So interested were they in these searches 
and discoveries that it was nearly high noon when Bar- 
ney reminded them that they had missed their breakfast. 
He then regaled them on black trout, wild yams and 
pineapples, with biscuits of grated breadfruit, and plan- 
tains baked in ti leaves. 

“How on earth did those oopus and goldfish get up 
here?” asked Russell. “There are a dozen high precipices 
in the valley between this and the ocean.” 

“The oopus climb up the wet cliffs behind the water- 
falls,” returned Rollo. “I’ve seen them clinging to the 
water-soaked face of the rock twenty or thirty feet above 
the pools. You see, they have a powerful sucker on the 
belly Professor Alexis says the oopus abound in every 
permanent stream. The goldfish were probably brought 
here by Hiwa-hiwa.” 


270 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

“And where did all the Hawaiians come from? Bar- 
ney says that this fortress of theirs is so ancient that even 
the oldest inhabitant has no tradition of it.” 

“That,” said Rollo, “is not hard to explain. Judge 
Fornander, in his great work on the Polynesian Races, 
places the first colony into Hawaii in 500 A. D. They 
came from Savaii in Samoa. The Polynesians were such 
expert fishermen and navigators that they wandered 
nearly all over the Pacific in their double canoes, living 
on the catch of their nets, guided by the moon, stars 
and winds. They were the Vikings of the ocean, and the 
Kanakas have populated nearly all the habitable groups : 
Tahiti, New Zealand, Fiji, Samoa, the Tongan, . Mar- 
quesan and Micronesian Islands, and the Hawaiian 
group. All of them have somewhat similar languages, 
and nearly all claim descent from a common father and 
mother, Wakea and Papa. From their time they com- 
pute 60 generations.” 

Under Barney’s instructions the boys took up their 
position in a cavern which overlooked the whole sandal- 
wood orchard, and watched for the advent of Bazan and 
Hicks. Just as they were about to give up the vigil, as 
the sun bent low toward the pellucid, glittering peaks of 
Mauna Kea, just visible between the pahs, Russell whis- 
pered: 

“Here’s the Frenchman, just emerged from a cave 
nearby. There must be an underground entrance. That’s 
him, — red hair, — one ear cleft and the scar of a savage 
cut on one cheek. He has a saw in his hand ; he doesn’t 
propose to let the Kanakas in Paliuli hear any wood- 
chopping or tell-tale echoes. Now he’s selected the two 
handsomest sandals in the grove.” 

The boys watched the moonshiner saw down the 
trees, then trim off their branches and cut the trunks 
into lengths of six feet each. The sweet odor of the 
fragrant sap was wafted into the cave. 


271 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

^‘Are you going to let him get away with four hun- 
dred dollars’ worth of this precious stuff?” asked Rollo. 

“Bedad, an’ he won’t lift thim shticks till he’s ate 
his supper. They are two hundred and fifty pounds 
apiece. Be as aisy as you can. There will be heaps of 
fun before long, more’n you can shake fourteen shticks 
at.” 

The Irishman was right, for the lazy beachcomber 
now adjusted a tripod, on which he hung a little kettle, 
and leisurely cooked a supper of salted wild pig and 
roasted squid, which he had brought with him. These 
he ate with poi, and wound up with baked plantains and 
heavy potations of ti-root punch. Meanwhile Barney 
had slipped away to make ready, as he expressed it, for 
the “illigant surprise .party.” 

“The sandalwood poacher evidently intends to work 
after dark, or when the moon rises,” whispered Rollo. 
“He’s nerving himself up to meet the old Kings' with 
those bracers of moonshine tipple.” 

“Say, Rollo, what’s the matter with our masquerad- 
ing a little on our own account? We have plenty of 
toggery here.” 

“Brilliant idea !” exclaimed Rollo. And in a few min- 
utes they had attired themselves in cocoanut fibre armor, 
and hanging skirts of pandanus and ti-leaves. With 
helmets, spears and sharks’ tooth swords, combined 
with their ferocious tattooed faces and breasts, the re- 
semblance to old-time Hawaiian savages was almost 
perfect. 

A gloom of deep twilight had settled into the ravine 
when Bazan applied himself again to the rape of Mine- 
lulu’s legacy. He had conveyed one log of precious 
wood to his den, and had raised another on his shoulder, 
when a strong odor of sulphurous smoke permeated the 
air in his vicinity. Then suddenly, as if by magic, a 
ring of fire sprang up around him, fifty feet in diam- 


272 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

eter. He threw his burden down, but instead of run- 
ning, appeared to be transfixed with terror at the sight 
of two dark figures which rose, phantom-like and slowly, 
apparently out of the ground, cutting off his retreat. 
One of these apparitions had a white face, and bore the 
appearance of a Scottish patriarch. He wore a High- 
land cap, kilt and plaid stockings. Added to these, a 
long, flowing white beard and snowy locks presented 
indubitable proof that he belonged to a period of a hun- 
dred years before. 

His companion was a Kanaka, most ferocious-looking, 
tattooed from head to foot, clad in wicker helmet and a 
bright crimson malo of kapa. The whales’ tooth orna- 
ment hanging on his breast indicated that he was of 
the highest royal birth. In his hand was a spear tipped 
with ivory, poised ready for hurling. At the first ges- 
ture of the patriarch, the Frenchman sank trembling to 
his knees. 

“Foul robber of maidens, knowest thou not the wraith 
of Roger McGregor, the son-in-law of Kamehameha 
the Great, or of this, his companion, the mighty Umi, 
King of all Hawaii and builder of famous Temples? 
His spirit, disturbed by the destruction of its earthly 
resting place, this fragrant sandal, has summoned me 
to avert the desecration of this, my beloved grove, a 
priceless legacy to my children. What doest thou here, 
impious vandal?” 

“Only to cut deux little tiny trees, et fabricant von 
petit casket for jewels,” whined the moonshiner. “I vill 
the price pay villing, your Excellencie.” 

“Liar !” shouted the old man. “Only yesternight I 
was present when you conspired with Hicks to he^ 
down every tree in this sacred grove. Bind him, Umi, 
and we will cast the villain over the waterfall.” 

The Frenchman, with a despairing yell, leaped to his 
feet, and, dashing through the ring of fire, broke for 



‘Murderer,’ shouted the old Scotchman: ‘I can tell you why your foul 
companions never came back! You and they tied a gravestone to the 
princess’ feet, after drugging her in the Chinese v 

?ink her into Davy Jones’ locker.. Your accomplices were fed to the 
sharks, in the bay of Whampoa, just as your carcass will be fed to 
the wiid dogs tonight,’ 


274 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

his cavern. He had not run more than two rods when 
Rollo and Russell leaped out from their place of con^ 
cealment and tripped him up; then with Umi’s help he 
was tied hand and foot. 

“Behold the great Kings, Keawe and Alapai-nui.’^ 
cried McGregor, “whose spirits linger in this famous 
abode of their ancestors. They are driven hither by 
your desecrating axes, which destroyed the sandalwoods 
in Waihalulu. Your jugs of hell-broth were hurled 
down the precipice by their hands. Now, tell me. 
Frenchman, where is the Princess, the fair Minelulu^ 
You made a secret journey to Canton, and soon after 
she disappeared from the American College.” 

“T know not ze mystery. Monsieur has a suspicion 
asfainst an innocent man,” whimpered Bazan. 

“Villain ! Murderer !” shouted the Scotchman, and 
seized him by the throat ; “yow took her down the river 
in a sampan; yoit with your two French conspirators 
dragged her through a graveyard and drugged her with 
opium ; you made ready a gravestone in a sling, to sink 
her into Davy Jones’ locker, because she would not sign 
away her birthright to the little Prince George, the de- 
scendant of this same Umi ; and then you say her dis- 
appearance was a mystery, when the only mystery to 
you was why your foul companions never came back! 1 
can tell you ! They were fed to the sharks in the bay 
of Whampoa, just as your carcass will be fed to the 
wild dogs tonight, if you do not tell the truth. Here, 
warriors, bring the prisoner to the pali and let him gaze 
upon the resting place of his bones, two hundred feet 
below.” 

Without any more ado the wretched man was dragged 
t!' rough the rank underbrush to the top of the water^ 
tall, beseeching for mercy and protesting that he would 
reveal the whole truth, if only his life was spared. He 
was told by Unii that at the first signal or §hQut he 


275 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

gave to attract the attention of the villagers of Paliuli, 
he would be dropped over the declivity on the sharp 
rocks at the bottom of the abyss. 

'‘Now,” continued the Scotchman, “who hired you to 
go to China on this dirty errand, and who advanced the 
money ?” 

“It was the high chief Mau-mau of Kauai.” 

“Liar again ! you know very well that Mau-mau died 
five years ago, and you got the money from Ah Fong 
Lo and Fred Hutchinson. In with him, Umi.” 

And the stalwart warrior flung him, bound hand and 
foot, into the river, but a few feet from the perpendicu- 
lar plunge, holding him back from death in the swift 
current only by a small riata. 

When he again promised with despairing wails and 
abject protestation to reveal all his secrets, McGregor 
hauled him out, and, taking him to one side, received 
his confession apart from the company. Then the 
Scotchman announced : 

“He has told me all I want to know. The main plot- 
ters against Minelulu died not long ago. The French- 
man has given me his word of honor to reveal neither 
the existence of this sandalwood forest, nor the secret 
entrance, or what he knows of Minelulu and Paliuli, 
and he will sail within a month for Australia, never to 
return. 

“Now, do you, Umi, Keawe and Alapai, in his 
presence, swear to me by the spirit of the great Ka- 
mehameha, that you will smite this outcast to his death 
with sword or fire, so soon as he fails to redeem these 
promises or conspires again against my children or their 
legacy ?” 

“We swear together by the spirit of the mighty war- 
rior,” returned the three. 

Then the Scotchman conducted the trembling wretch 
out of the ravine, learning from him at the same time 


276 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

the secret of the entrance. While he was absent, Bola- 
bola, alias King Umi, was making ready their supper. 
RqIIo and Russell discussed the events of the day around 
the campfire. 

“I venture to say there’ll be no more poaching of 
Minelulu’s sandalwoods,” said Rollo. 

“Barney can impersonate a Scotchman a§ naturally as 
he can an Irishman,” said Russell. “But what puzzles 
me is that ring of fire that sprang up so suddenly around 
the Frenchman.” 

“That was very ingenious and spectacular,” said 
Rollo. “But not so difficult, after all. You see, Bola- 
bola had collected the dry grass and twigs in advance; 
then while Bazan was absent with the first log, he quiet- 
ly crawled around and placed it in position. They lit 
the circle of combustibles instantly by means of a fuse 
made of sinnet rope soaked in salt-petre. But did you 
note what a magnificent specimen of anatomy the Mar- 
quesan presented? But for his brown skin and tattoo 
marks, you could take him as a model for an Apollo 
Belvidere. If Phidias were living today he could find 
no specimens of ideal physique more perfect in their 
majestic human figure than some of these descendants 
of the great Polynesian chiefs.” 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


277 


CHAPTER XX. 


^etectiv^, Outlaws and Smugglers scramble to possess 
the Opium.^ Barney treats those interested to a Surprise party. 
— Jardine is stunned by a colossal swindle. 


HE charm and fascination of their stay 
in Paliiili, the Emerald Valley, in- 
creased day by day. 

So soft and dreamy were the zephyrs 
that stole between the palis from over 
the laughing wavelets of the Pacific; 
so bewilderingly beautiful and varied 
the dells and grottos and bowers of the 
little ravines and gorges around the 
cliff bound settlement; so strange and 
interesting the marvels of plant and 
animal life ; so weird, savage and 
unique the Children of Nature who 
peopled this Beulah-land, — that they 
began to forget that a great human heart was throbbing, 
— and millions on millions of busy arms were toiling to 
move the wheels of progress in the big outside world. 

“Oh, dear ! It almost makes the tears come, to think 
we must soon leave this Eden,” exclaimed Russell. “I 
haven’t half read Grandpa McGregor’s Journal of ‘Life 
in Old Hawaii,’ nor examined half the curios in Minelu- 
lu’s Chateau.” 

“That’s because you spend so much time in talking 
with the Princess,” said Rollo. 

“Can’t help that ; who wouldn’t talk with such a dear 
good lady. I get deep into the Scotchman’s diary, and 
then, presto ! it vanishes ; T glance up, and she is laugh- 



278 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

ing mischievously and says, ‘Russell, you’ve studied all 
that’s good for you. Come right out and help me teach 
the boys’ class in the primer, and tell us the wonderful 
things about America. I’m going to keep you and Rollo 
with me every minute possible. You’ll be disappearing 
from Paliuli some day; and then I’m going to have a 
good long cry.’ ” 

“She makes me feel a little guilty for not staying at the 
Chateau all the time” returned Rollo. “I was just a lit- 
tle afraid of the royalty of the Princess; but she makes 
herself so much like an own sister or mother, and gives 
us such a hearty welcome, that we feel free and welcome 
to come and go without any formality ; even when she is 
too busy to chat with us. She learned the pretty art of 
banishing stiffness and embarrassment, when studying 
human nature as a teacher.” 

“By the way,” said Russell ; “I discovered something 
about that skull of Captain Cook’s we found in the water- 
fall grotto on Mauna Loa. I was reading, last night, 
McGregor’s story of the tragedy at Ke-a-la-ke-Kua Bay. 
In it he says a part of Cook’s body was restored by two 
young priests, who brought it off in a canoe in the dead 
of a stormy night. The fragments were wrapped up in. 
ii leaves and red kapa, and delivered in a koa calabash.” 

“And what does he say about the head?” 

“Simply that only the upper part of the cranium was 
returned.” 

“Well, that explains som.ething that puzzled me very 
much. You remember we studied those antiquities very 
carefully while the lava flow held us prisoners. Well, 
the jaw that held those gold filled teeth was much too 
small. It wouldn’t ht the skull, anyway I could fix it.” 

“Yes, Rollo ; Hiwahiwa tells me the priests of the sev- 
eral tribes were often at odds.” 

“So probably there was much pulling and hauling 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 279 

among the Kahunas for the body of a man whom they 
believed was both a prince and a’ god.” 

“Oh, your granny ! The reason why they brought any 
of it back, was because it didn’t agree with their stom- 
achs. Those old salts were so drenched with rum and 
tobacco that they were unfit even for a savage’s diet.” 

“For shame! Russell; Judge Fornander himself says 
that man-eating was held in abhorrence by the Hawaiians. 
Only Cook’s heart and liver were eaten, by two boys 
who mistook them for those of a dog. So McGregor 
says.” 

“The young chiefs were quite captivated with Lieuten- 
ant King’s tact and diplomacy,” continued Russell. 
“They coaxed him without success to run away from 
Cook’s squadron ; become a Kanaka, and marry the King’s 
daughter. He believes it was a couple of King’s friends 
who stole all they could of the Navigator’s remains, and 
brought them secretly to the Lieutenant, to stop the bom- 
bardment the British were giving the coast villages.” 

“And what disposition did they make of the grewsome 
contents of the calabash? Embalm them?” 

“No ; simply buried them with military honors in the 
little bay.” 

“Now you forgot to tell me what you and Bolabola 
found in that little wild ravine you explored yesterday.” 

“Why, we came across a party of Kanakas, digging ti 
roots and gathering waiike and olona bark, and snaring 
mamo birds with nets and bird lime. They had crushed 
some narcotic roots, and thrown them into a pool. From 
this they gathered a big calabash of fish, that were float- 
ing helplessly on the water. The women and girls of 
the party had just come up from lele kawa (leaping a 
high cliff into a deep pool). They wouldn’t let us eat 
with them; that was contrarv to the taboo. But I had 
borrowed Minelulu’s kodak, and they allowed us to take 
a photograph while they were busy at their luau.” 


280 Adventures of Eollo In Hawaii 

'That will make a splendid addition to our museum of 
Wild life.in the Tropics,” said Russell. 

‘T see they have hear skin capes on their shoulders, 
and they are perfect fits, too.” 

“That’s a new garment; what’s the spelling did you 
say?” 

“P-h-i-t-z, fits.” 

“Well, Rollo, you’ve got a bad spell of hare-skin fits 
today. You ought to apply a full bottle of hair-restorative 
for that.” 

“We are leaving the Emerald Valley,” said Russell, 
“without having a chance to sample one of the famous 
Polynesian dainties, a baked dog. I wouldn’t eat it, or 
even taste of it, over a long distance telephone. But I 
had a good mind to bribe Bolabola to feed one to you as 
a ‘little pig,’ when you were off your guard. If I could 
get you into the scrape. I’d be quite willing to play his- 
torian of the tragedy.” 

“Like the cook,” suggested Rollo, “who invented some 
new French dishes, and tested each one first on his dog, 
to make sure it would not kill any one.” 

“Not exactly, for in this case it would be the dish of 
dog, fed to the cook. Now, what are you laughing so 
loud and immodestly about, Rollo? I don’t see anything 
so scandalously humorous about these puppy dishes.” 

“Of course you don’t,” said Rollo, holding his sides; 
“but Barney and I did, when at the Inan, you assured 
Minelulu that no syren could hypnotize you into eating 
roasted bow-wow, — and at the very moment you were 
creating a brisk market for what you called sucking pig, 
with 'such funny shark's teeth' in his mouth, and lauding 
Bolabola’s culinary to the skies. Minelulu herself almost 
lapses into hysterics when she alludes to it.” 

“Gee whiz,” gasped Russell, “was that really a roasted 
purp? Well, that accounts for it. I’ve had such a fellow 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 281 

feeling since for every little yellow dog I met in the val- 
ley.” 

“Exactly; just like Bolabola says the Marquesans love 
their enemies, — make them part of themselves.” 

After leaving Paliuli, Rollo and Russell made their 
way to Lau-pa-hoe-hoe, a coast village most picturesquely 
enclosed by the towering cliffs of the canyon in which it 
nestled. Here they met their Uncle on his way from Hilo 
to join them, and proceed to Kohala and then to Kona, 
the celebrated coffee and orange district, on Mauna Loa’s 
leeward flanks and shore. 

He laughed immoderately at their brown skins and the 
weirdness of their tattooed decorations. 

“Pm intensely interested,” said Mr. Hadley, “in your 
cattle hunt, the rock-slide, and the spectacular way in 
which you descended the waterfalls. So you finally dis- 
covered the Emerald Valley, and explored its strange 
mysteries?” 

“Yes, we did” returned Russell; “and we have never 
enjoyed anything with such keenness as living with the 
Kanakas in simple Hawaiian style.” 

“Well, you must give me all the details when we take 
a day off to write home letters. Now, Pm going to the 
big valleys of Waipio and Waimanu with Professor Alex- 
is ; and then we will attempt an old time but dangerous 
route under the cliffs and over the surf beaten rocks to 
Kohala plantation.” 

“Say, Rollo,” exclaimed Russell; “we left our horses 
tied to a tree in the jungle just before the cattle leaped 
the precipice. They’ve had nothing but faith, hope and 
charity to live on since, and their bones must be ” 

“Ugh,” returned Rollo; “don’t mention it; the thought 
is too grewsome.” 

“Don’t worry, boys,” said their Uncle. “I was on the 
wire today, with Mr. Ramsey of the Parkman Ranch, 
and he told me your horses, left in the jungle, are safe. 


282 Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 

You can ride up to the ranch, secure your own steeds, 
and cross the Waimea plain and Kohala Mountains, meet- 
ing me at the plantation.” 

“Will Barney go with us?” asked Russell. 

“Not on this trip. He tells me he must report to Sheriff 
Anderson at Hilo what he has learned of the Opium 
mystery. This opium plot seems to thicken, rather than 
clear up.” 

“Did you meet the Sheriff in Hilo?” asked Rollo. 

“Yes, two days ago. It transpires now that Captain 
Jardine has heard that the opium is buried under thirty 
feet of hot lava on Mauna Loa, and he has sold — or bar- 
gained to sell — ^his interest in it to the Honolulu Wreck- 
ing and Salvage Co., who will bore for it when the vol- 
cano flow cools off. Anderson tells me this renders Jar- 
dine liable for smuggling.” 

“Why so ?” asked Russell. “The Salvage Company are 
now responsible.” 

“Not until they have possession. The Wrecking Com- 
pany have notified the custom house authorities that they 
are ready to pay the tariff as soon as they or the Govern- 
m.ent can get hold of the drug ; but that doesn’t release 
Jardine.” 

“It looks to me,” said Russell, “as if Anderson has a 
peculiarly complicated case on his hands ; there are so 
many claimants and so many conflicting interests, and 
the opium is so completely gobbled up by the goddess 
Pele ; it would give even a Philadelphia lawyer softening 
of the brain and nervous prostration.” 

“He asked me if you would be willing to testify in 
court,” continued Mr. Hadley, “providing Jardine’s or 
Barnev’s cases com*e up while you are on the island.” 

“We would do anything reasonable to help Barney and 
Minelulu,” exclaimed Rollo. 

“Another rather laughable outcome of this opium em- 
broglio. Jardine is instituting a damage suit against the 



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A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 283 

Australian Steamship Co., for the blowing up of his clip- 
per Fay Yan.” 

“We can testify in that suit,” cried Russell, “that the 
old rack-o’-bones tub wasn’t worth the gunpowder they 
wasted on her. If she’d been through the battle of Ma- 
nil’a, she could not have been worse ‘dislocated and busti- 
cated,’ as Barney described her.” 

“By the way, Russell,” said Rollo a little later, “I had 
another good talk with Mr. Ramsey at the Parkman 
Ranch, over the phone this afternoon.” 

“And wasn’t he surprised that we should take such un- 
ceremonious French leave of his bullock hunt when we 
tobogganed down the rock slide ?” 

“Yes, he wouldn’t believe the story at first; but when I 
gave him some of the details, lie urged with kindly 
warmth, that we come up to the Ranch and tell hitii the 
whole story of our adventures in these wild and wondrous 
canyons. He said he wanted to see the Yankee boys who 
could go tobogganing and shoot the chutes down the rock 
slides and ' precipices ; and he was sure an anatomical 
search would discover the wings we sprouted to jump the 
three hundred foot' waterfalls with. 

“I suggested to him that we were not quite angels yet, 
and could prove it by our runaway appetites.” 

“Angels !” exclaimed Russell. “He forgets that it’s 
only the real good little boys that die young.” 

“Yes ; it’s quite certain those wild cattle who jumped 
into the canyon made no mistake about our being angels. 
The very Old Scratch and his partners couldn’t have 
given them worse conniption fits and sinking spells. By 
the way, did Mr. Ramsey tell you what the final wind-up 
of the bullock hunt was ?” 

“Oh, yes; two days later they came back. to search for 
us, and found the cow Barney made fast to the tree. The 
plowed up soil and ferns showed where the wild herd had 


284 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


slipped over the precipice and dropped into the canyon. 
They lowered a Spaniolo into the ravine to investigate.” 

“And he found them torn into sausage meat on the 
spikey rocks?” 

“No; on the contrary, and very fortunately, they fell 
through the clouds into the tops of a tangled koa-tree 
grove, and the tough branches broke the final concussion. 
Though the tumble was a sheer one hundred feet, through 
the air and trees jutting from the cliffs, only the horns and 
bones were broken. The cattle were still alive, and they 
packed the hides and beef to the ranch on mules.” 

“That’s a great relief, -Rollo ; but how came it that they 
didn’t notice our absence for two days?” 

“They did, but that terrible cloudburst detained them. 
Sylva got too daring ; the next bull they noosed charged, 
broke the lasso, and tossed him over into a little ravine, 
breaking his leg. They started home at once with him, 
but the freshets in the canyon both before and behind were 
so furious, that it was thirty-six hours before they crawled 
out of the jungle, and came up to the ranch. When the 
rescue party came back to our rock slide, of course every 
trace of us had vanished except our horses and the cow.” 

Three weeks later found our boys and Mr. Hadley in 
Hilo again on their return from Kohala and Kona. 

“Well, we are both of us subpoenaed,” said Rollo, “in 
Uncle Sam versus Captain Jardine ; and also versus Bar- 
ney Morrissey. I was just now served, and the deputy 
sheriff is looking for you with a bull-dog and a shot-gun ; 
that is, figuratively speaking.” 

“And every one is on the qui vive and excited over the 
several litigations,” returned Rollo. “It’s a comical mix- 
up, and would be an uproarious farce, if there were not 
so much money and reputation involved.” 

“To add to this comedy of errors, the tenure of office 
of Sheriff Lorin Anderson has expired by limitation and 


285 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

he has accepted the position of U. S. Judge; so he will 
try the very cases he has been prosecuting. The opium 
cylinders will be brought right into court.” 

Hurrah ! Then they have really resurrected the opium 
from the tombs of the Kings !” 

“Yes; the cylinders are down at the steamer ware- 
house at this moment— $160,000 worth of the wicked nar- 
cotic.” 

But, how in the dickens could they bore through thirty 
feet of hard pahoehoe in so short a time ?” 

“Well, it wasn’t the drill-man who finally got it out. 
What I’m telling you now must be considered strictly con- 
fidential. Jim Hicks went up to the lava flow with an ex- 
perienced oil well driller from Oklahoma. They bored 
for several days without success.” 

“And how did Hicks know where to bore ? The whole 
locality around the little green valley was swept over by 
the new river.” 

“Barney says Spunyarn showed Hicks the very blow 
hole which led down to its last hiding place. But never 
mind that now. Barney took advice from a good attor- 
ney, and went up with Boomguy to play detective on the 
moonshiner... 

“He and the bullock catcher found a cavern, from 
which they could watch the proceedings with a spy-glass. 
They were prowling around the cavern in what was the 
green valley, when they found a rift in the rock which 
had been made by a subsequent earthquake. By drilling 
this out a little with an iron bar, they succeeded in enter- 
ing the lower grotto and tunnel.” 

“Then that wasn’t invaded by the lava !” cried Russell. 

“So it seems. But the opium was even then as much of 
an ignis fatuus as ever, and could not be found ; until 
Boomguv and Spunyarn made some kind of a conspiracy 
together, and then it bobbed up very suddenly.” 


286 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

“We always thought that Spunyarn was playing a deep 
game of his own,” said Russell. 

“Yes; and like that other Ah Sin, that Bret Harte 
tells us about, this Ah Sin proves most superlatively that 

“ Tor ways that are dark, 

And tricks that are vain, 

The Heathen Chinee is peculiar/ 

“Well, to make a long story short, Jim Hicks and his 
gang took possession of the opium cylinders with grim 
joy, and carried them on pack oxen to a cave near the 
shore of the old volcano of Hualalai. This took them over 
the tablelands and down to the coast by a much easier 
route than we trekked over from Hilo through the forest 
to the eruption.” 

“And how did they get it here to Hilo ?” 

“Suddenly, Sheriff Anderson’s deputies got wind of this 
coup, which we might call The Rape of the Opium,' 
seized the treasure, and brought it last night to Hilo, by 
the Steamer Mauna Kea.” 

“It puzzles me,” said Russell, “why Barney should al- 
low both Hicks and the authorities to walk off with so 
much valuable treasure, and make so little effort to cir- 
cumvent them.” 

“Reason enough. They were only two, and Hicks’ 
gang numbered six, — a desperate set of cut-throats from 
Paliuli.” 

“There was some good reason, I’ll warrant you. The 
Irishman’s brain is making a good many revolutions a 
minute. This is a chance of his life time. Here comes 
the deputy to serve a venire summons on you.” 

The court-room was packed to suffocation when Judge 
Anderson, a stout, red whiskered American of fifty years, 
called the case of U. S. versus Morrissey. In this the 
latter was charged with complicity in smuggling $160,- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


287 


ooo worth of contraband opium into Hawaii, and dispos- 
ing of the same. During the trial the case seemed to go 
against him in every particular. A deputy sheriff had 
found a small package left by him for safe keeping in 
the vault of the Bank of Hilo, after his return from the 
first trip to the new lava flow. This contained a pound 
tin of opium. The evidence showed that he was one of 
the officers of the smuggler ship Fay Yan, a close friend 
of Jardine’s; had been overheard discussing the wreck 
and loss of the drug with the Captain. He did not even 
deny that he had made an effort to discover and restore 
it to Captain Jardine. Then when he made the second 
trip to the lava flow, after locating the cylinders with 
Boomguy's help, he allowed them to be carried away by 
Hicks and his renegade gang, without notifying the Sher- 
iff at Hilo until after the moonshiners had had abundant 
time to ship away the plunder. This happened after he 
agreed to co-operate with the Sheriff in locating and re- 
covering the contraband opium. 

“I will now call as witness Rollo Hadley,” said the 
Prosecuting Attorney, Mr. Hitchcock. 

Rollo now took the witness stand, and was questioned 
as to his knowledge of the smuggling operations. 

“Under what circumstances did you first meet the de- 


fendant ?” 

Rollo then told the story of how the derelict wreck of 
the Fay Yan was sighted, the finding of Barney insensible 
in an empty water cask, the blood, bullet holes, wrecked 
furniture and other signs of a deadly encounter in the 
cabin ; of how the Fay Yan was blown into fragments by 
a barrel of gun-powder, a few minutes after Barney s 
fortunate rescue. 

“Did Mr. Morrissey tell you of any contraband opium 

concealed in any part of the ship?’' 

Rollo glanced at Barney and Mr. Kinney, his counse , 


288 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


and to his surprise, received a half nod from one, and an 
approving smile from the other. 

“Yes, sir ; he told me that after the Chinese desperadoes 
had hacked into and through all the large timbers of the 
clipper, they found a number of metal cylinders of the 
drug in a compartm.ent of the keel.” Then without fur- 
ther prompting, Rollo told the story of Barney’s faithful 
devotion to Captain Jardine, his escape from the blood 
thirsty Chinchus, his several escapes by leaping into the 
sea; his place of concealment in a hogshead lashed to 
the rudder ; the secret locker and Barney’s bravery in glid- 
ing through the ship among the desperate pirates, while 
they lay befuddled with intoxicants and narcotics. Be- 
fore the Prosecuting Attorney was aware of it, the out- 
side crowd had gotten hold of the story and the little 
wirey Irishman had almost completely secured the public 
sympathy. He was fast becoming a hero in the estima- 
tion of the Hilonians. 

“And did you and Mr. Morrissey later see this opium 
and under what circumstances?^” 

Rollo now saw, what the Attorney did not, and that 
was his chance to gain over the whole community to 
Barney’s side by a quick stroke of dramatic and spectacu- 
lar word painting. So he related briskly the tale of being- 
entrapped by the lava flow, how they barely escaped by 
Barney’s breaking into the catacombs of Mauna Loa ; how 
they explored what he styled the under side of Hawaii. 

Then he described the ghostly visits of the wraith of 
Old King Umi ; his nightly visits to Pele’s Pepper-box, 
to the cave where lay the priceless treasures of antiquity, 
and the tell-tale remains of Captain Cook. Then came the 
weird ghost-hunt through the catacombs, the sudden dis- 
covery and flitting again of the opium treasure, the dra- 
matic events of bobbing into the grotto of the Hawaiian 
gods, where Barney and Hiwa-hiwa were having a secret 
consultation. So spellbound became the audience, includ- 


289 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

ing the Judge and Attorneys, and so intense the interest, 
that every one forgot the controversy, while all bent ad- 
miring eyes upon Barney and the boys. 

Then came the wild inruption of the white-hot lava, the 
spectacular escape by the ladder of slabs, and the terrific 
explosion of Captain Cook’s grotto. 

“Where is this Hiwa-hiwa now?” asked the Judge. 

“Your honor; we have made every effort to summons 
the Kahuna but without success.” 

“I know him,” said Judge Anderson; “and as he is an 
outlaw and the priest of a most abhorrent paganism, his 
oath and testimony would be of little value in this court.” 

“That is our case,” said Attorney Hitchcock. 

“I move this honorable court,” said Lawyer Kinney, 
“that this case be continued until after the trial of Cap- 
tain Jardine. We propose to show by evidence that will 
appear in that action, that Mr. Morrissey had a perfect 
legal right to take possession of the cylinders, and that he 
and Captain Jardine have delivered’ to the United States 
Government every cylinder of the drug which the Prose- 
cuting Attorney claims was smuggled by them into 
Hawaii.” 

This extraordinary statement was like a bombshell, 
and set the whole audience to buzzing with suppressed 
excitement, in view of the expected development of some 
new mystery. The postponement was granted. * 

At daybreak the next morning, Russell burst into 
the suite of rooms occupied by them at the hotel. He had 
just returned from down town with the early morning 
paper. 

“Gee whiz! Here’s another pretty how de do! Jim 
Hicks has been arrested and incarcerated in the calaboose ; 
likewise Captain Jardine! 

“It seems that Hicks broke into the steamer warehouse 
last night, and succeeded in carrying away every pack- 


290 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

age of the opium. He declared that Jardine put him up 
to the job with a promise to divide the loot.” 

‘‘Well; shiver my timbers!” cried Rollo. “It looks as 
if that would wind up the bobbin with both Hicks and 
Jardine for several years to come. 

“Uncle Sam is very strict. Occurred at ten o'clock! 
Why, we were down at the shore exactly at that time, 
and the street in front of the Maunakea warehouse was 
a blaze of electric light.” 

“But you’ll remember the dock sheds and pier jut out 
over the water, supported by iron piles. He and his con- 
spirators (I firmly believe Bazan was one of them) pad- 
died directly under it in a big double canoe, bored out a 
trapdoor in the plank floor with an auger, then sneaked 
away every cylinder of the drug.” 

“How did they detect them so soon?” asked Mr. Had- 
ley. 

“A Chinaman by the name of Ah Sin ran across them 
down the bay, burying the swag in a trough dug out in 
the sand by the shore,” 

“And I’ll just wager a gross of cocoanuts, that Ah Sin 
is our Spunyarn,” exclaimed Rollo. 

“No doubt of it. The examination of the moonshiners 
and the smuggler is set for nine o’clock ; so the evidence 
which comes out in the early case can be used in the 
action against Jardine at three in the afternoon.” 

Rollo and Russell were on hand at the crim.inal court. 
The case against Hicks was very clear. It was Spunvarn 
who discovered the moonshiners loading the cylinders 
from the canoe after spading a trough for it in the sand. 

The evidence against Captain Jardine was not so con- 
clusive. 

Hicks was placed on the witness stand and swore that 
'"'’.rdine had offered him $10,000 if he would successfully 
bstract the treasure, and assist him in removing it from 
Hawaiian territory. In this he was upheld by Bazan, 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics . 291 

who asserted he was present when Jardine made the 
proposition. 

“Why, the smuggler has the same attorney that is de- 
fending Barney,” said Russell. 

“Your honor,” said Mr. Kinney, “I propose to show 
you that the evidence of these two men is worthless. 
Call James Kalua Kai-koo, and his brother Daniel, of 
Waihalulu Valley.” 

“Why; they are our old friends, Jim and Dan,” cried 
Russell with delight, “They’ll simply make mince meat 
out of Mr. Sneak-along-at-midnight’s reputation.” 

The two Kanaka boys testified to their finding Jim 
Hicks’ secret mountain distillery, and to their seeing 
Hicks and Bazan dig up the jugs of rum from their 
secret hiding place under the cave. In their evidence they 
did not allude to Rollo, Russell or Barney. 

“Your honor may now see that these men, who are 
hardened criminals of long standing, cannot have any 
respect for the sacredness of an oath,” said Mr. Kinney. 

Jardine was admitted to bail, and his examination con- 
tinued. 

“Now for the final wind-up of the Great Opium Mys- 
tery,” said Russell, as they entered the court-room at 
three o’clock. 

“Will it be returned to Captain Jardine, or confiscated 
by Uncle Sam? That’s the question.” 

“It won’t do Jardine much good,” said Rollo, “even if 
he does win his case. I heard the Prosecuting Attor- 
ney say that he was pretty sure to get ten years in 
State’s Prison for grand larceny. That was a bad break 
he made last night in conniving with Hicks to steal it 
from Un^le Sam. This verv action shows that he hasn’t 
much faith in his own innocence. I’m so sorry for Bar- 
nev, too. Hitchcock savs he’s in a very tight place, and 
only a miracle can save him.” 

“Just wait, Rollo, until we see what Barney has to say. 


292 


Adventures of Kollo in Hawaii 


He is so unconcerned, and his demeanor so serene, that 
I have a sly suspicion of some coup or spectacular sur- 
prise that will come from Jardine or Minelulu or other 
person yet under cover, that will change the whole situa- 
tion; though as matters stand just now, I wouldn’t give a 
picayune for his chances.” 

As the trial proceeded, every point told against Cap- 
tain Jardine. 

It was proved that he had bargained to sell the drug 
to the Honolulu Wrecking Company without offering to 
pay the duty to the custom house authorities. He did not 
deny that the Fay Yan had secret compartments built into 
her hull, or that he had offered a reward to Barney to 
watch the cylinders and assist in their recovery. 

Spunyarn was now called, and testified that he was one 
of the Chinese crew of the Fay Yan and had seen his 
mutinous companions hack the ship’s timber in pieces, 
and finally discover the cylinders in the keel. After they 
had discovered them, they loaded them on the boats and 
set sail for Hawaii. The first landing made was on the 
desert island of Kahoolawe, where they buried the cylin- 
ders in the sands of a large cave under the precipitous 
cliffs of the windward coast. They planned to divide it 
into six parts, and themselves into as many companies, 
then distribute themselves over the several islands to sell 
the drug secretly on the plantations. 

But suddenly and unaccountably the whole treasure dis- 
appeared as if by magic. They believed it had been seized 
by the customs officers, and made haste to scatter them- 
selves among their countrymen, working on the planta- 
tions and in the hidden valleys of Maui and Hawaii. 

He himself had been arrested by Sheriff Anderson, but 
promised immutiny if he would turn State’s evidence, and 
assist in locating the opium. Anderson had instructed 
him to stiadow Barney, who he knew was one of the 
white officers of the Fay Yan. He also shadowed Rollo 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 293 

and Russell when they were on the still hunt for the Ghost 
of Old King Umi among the catacombs. He was watch- 
ing them when they came across the hollow boulder over 
the opium. That very night he conveyed all the cylinders 
to a cave which he had found in the roof of the grotto 
adjoining the little green valley. He reached it by las- 
sooing a jutting rock and hoisted the cylinders, five at a 
time, in a sling. 

‘/Great Pele !” whispered Russell ; “no wonder we never 
could find it. We never thought of looking in the roof 
for the wicked stuff.’’ 

So far the Attorney for the United States had had 
his own way, and it seemed impossible to secure a verdict 
either in Jardine’s favor or the Irishman’s. 

“And didn’t Barney know that Spunyarn was one of 
the mutineers?” asked Russell. 

“No; Minelulu told me that the Chinee was taken dan- 
gerously ill, the very night they left Canton, and she was 
the only one who entered the state-room in which he was 
placed. He was supposed to have a contagious disease.” 

“Call Mr. Barney Morrissey,” said the Attorney for the 
smuggler. 

Barney now entered the court-room and was sworn. 

“He’s as cool as a frozen cucumber,” said Russell; 
“face as impassive and void of emotion as the Goddess of 
Liberty on a twenty-dollar gold piece.” 

After the preliminary questions. Attorney Kinney in- 
quired : ' ^ 

“Mr. Morrissey, how much opium do you estimate is 
contained in these brass cylinders in question, and what 
is the aggregate value of their contents ?” 

“Not wan cinfs ivorth, zur. There ain’t enough dope 
in the hull bag of tricks to put a cross-eyed pussy-cat to 
slape.” 

There was a subdued buzz all over the court-room. 


294 


Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 


sounding as when an angry swarm of bees is about to 
emerge from their hive. 

“Do you mean to say that you can prove beyond any 
question, that not one of these cylinders contains even an 
ounce or two of the high priced product of the poppy ? ’ 

“Yes, zur ; and if anybody says as I’m a prevaricatin’ av 
veracity, he may ax the Sheriff of Hawaii, just a cornin’ 
forninst the door yander. I come with him not twinty 
minutes agone from the jail, where them dope cans are 
locked in under a guard av United States’ sogers. We 
tuk off the seals and on-screwed the kivers, and they wor 
every wan packed wid the foinest quality av gold chop 
Chinee hre crackers and Canton rice.” 

A roar of uncontrollable laughter went up from the 
whole’ audience, and a yell was immediately heard from 
the crowd just outside the door, as they learned of this 
new coup. The hilarity was repeated when the Sheriff, 
with a smile of grim fury, nodded a corroboration of 
Barney’s statement. 

He was placed on the stand and added a few details. 

The Prosecuting Attorney was beside himself with 
chagrin and anger. 

‘ 'Th’s contemptible farce,” he remarked in a loud voice, 
“has aroused more trouble, fuss and discussion in Hawaii 
than all the recent eruptions of the Volcanoes.” 

“I wish to recall the witness Ah Sin once more,” said 
Mr. Hitchcock. 

Spunyarn was now placed again in the witness box 
and testified that the 20,000 mats of rice found in the 
Fay Yan’s hold contained nearly a thousand pounds of 
opium, in tin cans, each about the size and shape of a 
sardine box. These were taken, he stated, to Kahoolawe 
with the cylinders. He had not seen them since. 

Captain Jardine was now recalled and questioned. 

“What do you know about these tin cans of opium and 
20,000 mats of rice?” asked the Prosecuting Attorney. 


295 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

‘ Nothing at all, except that the rice was taken as 
freight from Woo Tung Fang Company, of Canton, con- 
signed to Joy Yet Lo Trading Company of San Fran- 
cisco. This IS the first intimation I have had that the 
mats contained anything else but rice.” 

“That is very easy for you to assert, Mr. Jardine. Have 
you any witnesses or ship’s papers to prove that you were 
not smuggling this opium also into the territory of the 
United States?” 

The Captain looked very much confused and anxious. 

Barney was now questioned and corroborated both 
Spunyarn’s and Jardine’s testimony. 

“Your honor,” said Kinney, “Mr. Morrissey now de- 
livers to the court the Fay Yan’s bill of lading of the 
20,000 mat bags of rice in question. He was Supercargo 
of the Fay Yan, and happens to have rescued this par- 
ticular piece of paper from the wreck.” 

“I found it among the scraps and curios we picked up 
before the barrel of gun-powder went off ; wasn’t it 
lucky?” whispered Russell to Rollo. “I believe this en- 
tirely exonerates Jardine as far as the opium concealed 
in the rice is concerned.” 

A general buzz of satisfaction went around the court- 
room, as this new development came to light. Nearly 
every one present sympathized with Captain Jardine; his 
appearance and address being so kindly and gentlemanly. 
His benign countenance would indicate that he was a 
minister of the gospel, rather than an outlaw smuggler. 
The loss of the cargo and his clipper Fay Yan, had swept 
away his entire fortune. 

“Mr. Morrissey seems to be able to produce most any- 
thing he needs out of his vest pocket,” said the Prosecut- 
ing Attorney, with a suspicion of a sneer. “Perhaps he 
can dig up the other twentv thousand dollars’ worth of 
opium from some pocket in his trousers.'' 

“Opium does not grow on every bush,” returned Kin- 


296 


Adventures of Bollo in Hawaii 


ney. “You can’t expect a man to produce such a large 
quantity as you suggest unless there is some object in it.” 

“Your honor,” said the Sheriff, “I was only informed 
of the existence of this second installment of the drug 
yesterday, and we at once offered a reward of five thou- 
sand dollars for its recovery, to be used as evidence in 
these litigations ; provided the United States can prove a 
legal right to its confiscation. 

“Here is the offer of the reward, printed in the Hilo 
paper of yesterday’s issue.” 

“And there’s nothing like advertising, your honor,” 
burst out Barney. “That’s wot the chap said when he 
advertised in the Honolulu Commercial Advertiser for a 
boy ; an begorra, it wasn’t a fortnight before he had 
tzvins in the family.” 

At this juncture Boomguy entered the court-room, fol- 
lowed by several Chinese porters. Each carried two 
bales of flat tin cases, hanging from the ends of his auamo 
(shoulder stick). 

“Mr. Puako (Boomguy) delivers to the court herewith 
the tin cans of opium in question, and claims the reward 
offered by the Sheriff.” 

There was a hubbub of approval and enthusiasm all 
over the court-room, which the Judge sternly repressed. 
Many of the young men who sympathized with Barney, 
left their seats and, joining the crowd in the court yard, 
gave three rousing cheers for the Irishman. 

Boomguy now took the stand and told how he had 
found the cans of opium in the cave on Mauna Loa that 
was occupied by Hiwahiwa and the idols of- Old Hawaii. 
It was concealed in a recess in the pahoehoe behind the 
hideous image whose comical grimace caused Russell to 
lapse into hysterics. 

At the supper table they told their uncle of these ex- 
citing events of the day. 

“I can’t help feehng a good deal of sympathy for Jar- 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 


297 


dine/’ said Rollo. “When Barney announced the sud- 
denly discovered substitution of fire crackers and rice for 
the opium, he was more astonished than any one else. 
I thought he was going to tumble over in a fainting fit. 
That was a terrible swindle the opium merchants of Can- 
ton or Calcutta — wherever it was — perpetrated on him.” 

“Don’t waste your sympathy until the proper time 
comes,” returned Russell. “There’s another chapter to 
this comedy of errors coming yet: — mark my words.” 

“I don’t see how that can be,” remarked Mr. Hadley. 
“The evidence is all in now. Every one has shown his 
hand and thrown down his last trump cards.” 

“Excepting Barney,” continued Russell. “I never told 
you, Rollo, that I opened that one cylinder which I found 
under the slab in the tunnel. When I unscrewed the 
metal top, I found it full of genuine opium, and not rice 
and tire crackers. Now there’s some food for thought 
for you.” 


298 


Adventures of Eollo in Hawaii 


CHAPTER XXL 

HREE months later found our tourists 
in Panama. 

“A letter from Minelulu !” cried 
Russell. “Let us sit here on this 
veranda, embowered by palms, cocoa- 
nuts and bananas, and imagine we are 
back to Paliuli, gazing out over the 
wimpling, dimpling waves of the Pa- 
cific.” 

“A very appropriate spot too,” said 
Mr. Hadley : “for we have before 
us now the very- landscape gazed 
upon by Balboa, who was the first civ- 
ilized man to cross the backbone of 
the continent, and discover this, the world’s mightiest 
Ocean. Read the letter aloud, Rollo; it’s addressed to 
you.” 

“Here goes, then,” said Rollo; “listen.” 

“My dear Rollo and Russell : 

“You can hardly imagine with what genuine pleasure 
I write this, on receiving your note telling me where 
next to address you. The Steamer Mauna Kea Laves in 
an hour ; so Pm going to condense the news with tele- 
graphic brevity, reserving the details for my next. When 
you left Hilo, the result of the litigations was uncertain. 
Now everything seems to be settled. I think I hear you 
say, ‘Who finally got the opium?’ Well, Captain Jar- 
dine has just returned from San Francisco, and tel.s us he 
sold the $160,000 worth there, and paid the duty. You 
will laugh, I am sure, when you learn that Jardine re~ 



299 


A Thrilling Tale of the Tropics 

covered the drug; while the United States confiscated 
the rice and fire-crackers. I suppose Barney will not tell 
me how it happened, until after — well, — it makes me 
blush a little to tell you: — just Minelulu sounds a little 
lonesome, and we’re going to add another name to it, and 
then it will read Minelulu Morrissey. Somewhere be- 
tween its hiding place in the catacombs and the bay of 
Kailua, that opium suddenly left the cylinders, and its 
place was taken by the Canton rice. How it was done 
I’m as puzzled as you are to know ; but I have a suspicion 
that Barney and Boomguy could tell if they wished to. 
In a conversation I had with Lawyer Kinney this morn- 
ing, he told me that in the restoration of the contraband 
drug on the high seas, no smuggling laws were violated ; 
but that Jardine, in his frantic efforts to sell to the Wreck- 
ing Company and then to get forcible possession of it 
through Hicks, was in a desperate fix; and that only 
Barney’s shrewd maneuvers saved him from prison and 
total loss. He has given Barney the coffee plantation, — 
one of the finest in Kona, — and is purchasing the adjoin- 
ing one on which to live himself. 

“After the lawsuits Barney brought Jardine up to 
Paliuli, and we persuaded him to pledge himself that he 
never again zvould engage in unlazvful business. It made 
me cry for joy, when he gave this pledge, and he wept 
too, kneeling and putting his head in my lap, as though 
I were his own mother. We will divide our efforts, 
spending a part of the time on our plantation, and the 
rest of it in the Emerald Valley. My Uncle Kalulu has 
proposed to pass over to me his position as Chief : — he is 
growing very feeble. Then Barney and I will carry out 
our plans for educating and Christianizing my dear peo- 
ple. By the way, the will of my great-grandfather Mc- 
Gl*egor has turned up very suddenly ; and by its terms all 
the lands in and around Paliuli come to me with an un- 
questioned title. Barney took me up to see the Sandal- 


300 Adventures of Rollo in Hawaii 

wood orchard;— oh, dear! what a dizzy scramble it was! 
It almost stunned me to see what a valuable legacy dear 
Grandpa left to me. 

“Now, just a few words more. Jim Hicks is in the 
calaboose, serving a short sentence for the petty larceny 
of those cylinders. Boomguy is a plantation overseer; 
and in a few months he will take charge of our coflfee 
ranch. Spunyarn, too, will work for us. He is so de- 
voted to me for nursing him on the Fay Yan that I believe 
I can make a real good man out of him. Keawe, the 
guide, sends his aloha nui loa (very big love), and wishes 
you joy, me ka mahalo o ke Akua (by the grace of 
God). Hiwahiwa is on the point of burning his idols 
and destroying the heiau. He says he lost faith in the 
goddess Pele, when the white-fire river invaded the Pep- 
per-box and destroyed the sacred remains of the Old 
Kings. 

“Barney was really the one who found the opium 
behind the idols in Hiwahiwa’s secret cave. He received 
the reward of $5,000; but by agreement Boomguy got 
an equitable share, and Spunyarn was not forgotten. 
With many alohas we are your devoted friends, 

“Minelulu of Paliuli and Barney.'’ 






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